


Don't Forget Us

by dancingmylifeaway



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Amnesia, Dark Magic, Dark One Captain Hook | Killian Jones/Dark One Emma Swan, Dark Swan Arc, Dreamcatcher, Gen, Villainous Plot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-18
Updated: 2019-09-28
Packaged: 2020-03-07 11:46:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 48,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18872569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dancingmylifeaway/pseuds/dancingmylifeaway
Summary: When Killian discovers he's a Dark One, he uses the dreamcatcher to remove Emma's memories of his ultimate plan to destroy the Light forever. His idea backfires and he soon finds himself taking care of his amnesiac girlfriend. However, everyone else has their own ideas about how to handle Emma's situation.





	1. Chapter 1

Killian stalks across the living room toward the Dark One.

Well – the _other_ Dark One seems more suitable now.

Emma stands, paralyzed by the squid ink. She knows this isn’t her Killian right now. This is a twisted version of Captain Hook mixed with an inhuman amount of Darkness. She shouldn’t really be surprised, after all, she deserves to be hurt. Especially after she hurt him.

He gets closer and her eyes dart down to the dreamcatcher in his hand, the one that had earlier held his memories. Now it’s empty, just a seemingly pointless household decoration. Killian – _Hook_ – slightly hesitates in his tracks, his fingers tightening around the dreamcatcher as an evil plan forms behind his eyes. Emma’s internal warning alarm starts blaring, screaming at her to get out of there as quickly as she can.

She wants to listen, wants to run out the door and never look back, but the invisible restraints of the squid ink keep her glued to the spot. She glances at Zelena, who just stands there in silence, watching the scene unfold with a smirk on her face and glee in her tired eyes.

Hook tightens his grasp on the dreamcatcher, his eyes shooting up to her face as he begins walking closer to her, determined to carry out the plan he just thought of.

Emma knows what he wants. He wants to destroy the Light forever. Despite the Light in her telling her how disastrous and dangerous it is, the Darkness in her desperately wants it too. He must know that. If she wants this, what is he doing right now? Why does he still need that dreamcatcher? Is he trying to get her out of the way? Emma can feel the squid ink’s hold on her begin to slightly weaken. But it doesn’t matter, he’s already too close, and the power-hungry look in his eyes warns her that she is far from safe right now.

“Killian, what are you doing?” Emma asks in a vain attempt to distract him from whatever he is planning to do to her.

His eyebrows furrow and his glare deepens further, if possible. “You took my memories, Swan.” Hook’s eyes show betrayal and anger as he speaks to her, forcing her guilt to expand, taking up more of her mind. “You kept me from knowing the truth.” His jaw tightens and his eyes harden, turning cold and bitter. “Now I’m going to return the favor.”

Emma’s eyes widen and shoot down to look at the dreamcatcher, realization barely hitting her before he brings the dreamcatcher up to her forehead to take her memories.

“Hold on a second there, Captain,” Zelena says from beside Emma. The glow slowly fades from the object Hook holds, his head turning toward the witch. “You aren’t exactly… _skilled_ in the art of Dark Magic. Perhaps I should be the one to do that. After all, I am much better at—“

Zelena’s words are cut off the second Hook flicks his wrist, a cloud of red smoke swallowing her before dispersing into thin air. He mumbles something about knowing how to use magic properly and holds the dreamcatcher once again in front of Emma’s forehead. Both begin to glow a bright yellow color, Emma’s eyes closed and her memories floating to the center of the round magical object.

The former savior desperately tries to cling on to her memories, but they disappear too quickly.

_Killian is a Dark One. Don’t forget, Emma. He’s planning to bring back all the other Dark Ones so he can… can…_

_Can what? What is he doing with the Dark Ones? Okay, never mind that. I am a Dark One. I turned Killian into a Dark One. Woah, wait a second… I’m a what? Isn’t Gold the Dark One? He is, isn’t he?_

Emma feels her mind race faster than it ever has, but her thoughts are being ripped out of her head before she has the chance to think more about them.

_Think, Emma, think! Why am I forgetting things? Why can’t I move? What’s going on? Okay, okay. Think of something meaningful, something important._

_Henry._

_Where is Henry anyway? Is he at school or Regina’s house? I hate that snooty mayor. She won’t even let me see my own son._

_Why do I want to see him? I never looked at him when I gave birth to him. I can’t have him. He deserves better than me. I’ll make sure it’s a closed adoption. I can’t be a mother. I can’t be the mother of the baby Neal left me with. This child deserves so much more than me. As soon as I’m out of prison, I’ll make sure I never have to deal with someone like Neal again._

_Neal? Who’s that? Is he another foster father? Is he mean? Does he hate me? I bet he treats me like everyone else always has._

_I wish I could just run away. I wish I had parents. Why did they give me up? Do they hate me too?_

* * *

 

He gulps as a small surge of guilt shoots through him, but he quickly stomps it out. He will not make himself feel responsible for _her_ choices. _She_ is the one who chose to surrender to the Darkness. _She_ gave up on trusting him and tried to keep Excalibur to herself. _She_ turned him into what he is now. Not him. He had told her to let him die, not to turn him into the very thing he despised for centuries, the very thing he despises now. The thing he tried to kill.

But now she is also what he had tried to kill. She is Darkness. As angry as he is with her, he feels sick at the thought that she now carries the powers, thoughts, burdens, and murderous hunger of all the previous Dark Ones. He loosens his grip on the dreamcatcher, but it still glows. His eyes follow the trail of memories that leave Emma’s mind.

How long has he been doing this to her? A few minutes maybe? Which of her memories is he taking? He only planned to take one specific memory, so how many has he taken so far?

Emma’s brow furrows and Killian pauses, wondering if she could possibly be fighting her way out of the magical hold of the dreamcatcher. The memories coming from her head suddenly make him feel sick and he pulls the dreamcatcher away from her as fast as he can, breaking the golden trail of magic.

Hoping that he had only taken the memories he wanted to take, Killian quickly fishes Zelena’s wrist cuff out of his pocket, securing it tightly on Emma’s arm.

He steps back and waits for her to regain her wits. But she doesn’t. He cocks his head to the side in confusion. How long is this supposed to take? Maybe he needs to count to ten or snap his fingers or something? He tries the few methods he can think of but begins to worry when she still makes no hint to consciousness.

“Swan,” Killian asks as he steps closer, reaching a hand out to her. His fingers barely brush her cheek and her eyes shoot open, her mouth opening wide to gasp loudly.

Killian reels back as if he just touched an open flame. Emma’s face changes from surprised and confused to completely terrified when she realizes she’s alone in a room with a man with a hook for a hand and she can’t move. Her eyes scan the room and land on him again, widening when they trail down to look at Excalibur in its sheath at his side. She shuts her eyes tightly and takes deep breaths, grunting in frustration after a few seconds.

Ah, so she is trying to escape her squid ink prison.

“It’s squid ink, love,” Killian chuckles darkly and she looks back up at him. That doesn’t stop her struggle.

“What are you talking about?” Emma’s panicked voice breaks the temporary silence. “What’s going on? Why can’t I move? Who are you?!”

He stops suddenly, all thoughts of taunting her leave his mind as he registers her words.

She doesn’t know who he is? No, that’s not possible. She knows very well who he is, so she must be trying to trick him and he won’t tolerate that.

“You think you can fool me?” He growls, a smirk settling on his face. “Nice try, Swan, but that’s not going work.”

“W-what are you t-talking about?” Emma stutters, clearly shaken. “Who are y-you? Where am I?!”

The pirate frowns, not expecting this response. He assumed she would just start yelling at him and try to break free from the squid ink’s hold on her, dropping the façade of a scared victim with no memories. But for some reason, she isn’t doing that. He will see how dedicated she is to this act before making any serious decisions on what to do with her. Although, she does look like she’s about to cry. Maybe she’ll give up soon.

“So you don’t know my name, hm?” He asks nonchalantly as if her answer doesn’t really interest him.

“No,” Emma shouts desperately, tears rolling down her cheeks now, “I really don’t! Please tell me what’s going on!”

“Do you know your name?” He gives her a sneer, knowing he’d definitely be able to tell if she was lying this time.

She pauses for a few moments, contemplating his question. She squeezes her eyes shut, more hot tears pouring down her pale face. “It’s um… I don’t… It…” Emma’s eyes snap open suddenly and she looks up at him curiously. “You called me ‘Swan’. I-is that it?”

Hook steps back a few feet and sharply intakes a breath. He can’t have possibly taken away all of her memories. He is a little new to magic, but removing every memory from someone’s head seems a little too outlandish. He quickly holds up the dreamcatcher and looks into it, making it show him the memories he took from Emma. He sees her becoming the Dark One, killing Cruella, destroying Ingrid…

His eyes turn foggy when their first date flashes through the dreamcatcher, followed by their trip to the past. He can’t believe he took away all of these memories. As he continues to watch her lost memories, his guilt grows. They go further than their meeting and her coming to Storybrooke, further than Henry’s birth and her relationship with Neal.  
The moment he sees Emma as a young child being abused by an adult in an old house that looks as though it’s falling apart, he tosses the dreamcatcher on the floor. He looks up at Emma, wanting to comfort her and apologize for what he’s done to her, but she’s wiggling in place and appears to have freed some of her body from the squid ink. He knew her invisible prison wouldn’t last very long, but he can’t have her escaping. Not when she doesn’t know who she is or where to go once she leaves this house. Killian bows his head in shame at what he’s about to do.

“Sorry, darling, but I can’t have you putting yourself into any danger,” he says so quietly she almost doesn’t here him. She looks up at him, confusion clear on her face.

“Danger?” Emma asks, tilting her head to the side. Her eyes slightly widen as she realizes she can now move all of her limbs, but she composes herself so he doesn’t notice. Her eyes dart around the room quickly before she suddenly spins around and runs toward the door, throwing it open and stepping onto the front porch to run down the staircase.

* * *

 

“Emma!” A woman yells from across the yard, catching her attention. She glances over at the woman briefly but decides that it’s safer to get as far away from that scary man as possible. Throwing open the gate, she runs onto the sidewalk and away from the house. That doesn’t stop other people from the front lawn to yell more things she can only assume are directed at her.

“What are you doing?”

“Miss Swan get back here!”

She doesn’t recognize any of the voices so how can she possibly trust them? Deciding that the strangers must be there to harm her, her feet carry her as far as they can. It’s dark out and hard to navigate in an unfamiliar town that she’s never seen before. Or at least, she doesn’t think she’s seen this place before now.

Exhaustion eventually catches up to her and she nearly collapses on a nearby bench, breathing heavily to catch her breath. Now she has a chance to really think about everything that just happened a few minutes ago.

_How can I not know who I am? All I have to work with is ‘Swan’. Unless that woman said my name… Is it Emma? Should I go back and ask?_

She shakes her head vigorously at the thought. No, she won’t go back there. There has to be another way to know if her name is ‘Emma’. She runs her hands over her coat and pants, but she finds no pockets anywhere that may hold any sort of identification.

“What kind of jacket doesn’t have pockets?” She murmurs to herself, frowning at her impractical black attire. She wonders if this is really how she chooses to dress herself all the time. It’s all made of leather and much too dark for her liking. Why does she even own these clothes?

Her thoughts are interrupted when the man with the metal hand appears before her suddenly in a cloud of dark red smoke. She nearly falls off of the bench trying to scamper away from him.

“How did you—“

“Calm down, I’m not going to hurt you,” the man says. “My name is Killian. I only want to help you remember who you are.” He slowly approaches her and crouches on the sidewalk so he is eye-level with her. “Come back with me, I promise you’ll be safe.”

She cautiously looks him up and down, but some part of her calms down when she gazes into his bright blue eyes. She knows she shouldn’t trust him, yet she can’t help but believe that he’s telling the truth. He isn’t lying, she tells herself, not sure how she came to this conclusion. Something about his words brings her a feeling of safety, so she nods her head slowly and stands with him.

“O-okay…” Emma whispers nervously. “But I have some questions for you.”

“I’m sure you do,” Killian chuckles. “They’ll all be answered soon. Follow me, love.”

She doesn’t exactly know why, but she does as he says and walks closely behind him back to the house she just ran away from. They travel in silence until they reach the white picket fence and the front yard where the strangers are still standing, seemingly stuck in the same position that they were in earlier. Why haven’t they moved?

“Who are they?” Emma asks quietly, watching the immobile people, wondering why they won’t move. “Why are they just standing there?”

Once they pass by the unmoving strangers, she hears them call out to her again.

“Emma, unfreeze us,” one woman with shoulder-length, coffee-colored hair says impatiently.

“Please, sweetie, we just want to help you,” another woman says, concern lacing her words.

“Hook, what are you doing here?” A man shouts, addressing Killian.

Emma turns toward them from the porch and cocks her head at her small audience. “Who are all of you?”

The woman with the shorter hair gasps and opens her mouth to speak, but Killian swiftly yanks open the door and pulls Emma inside the house before the woman can get a word out. “Pay them no mind, love. We don’t need them confusing you while you can’t remember them. I’ll return your memories in a moment.” He steps into the room they were in earlier and looks around on the floor for the dreamcatcher he dropped before she fled the house. He frowns in confusion at the hardwood floor, not understanding why it isn’t where he saw it last.

Emma walks around the room, seemingly awed by everything she sees in the house. “Is this your house?” She turns to him, but when he doesn’t reply she asks more questions. “Do you mind if I look around? Can I go upstairs? What’s through that door? Why is there a big lock on it?” She points to the locked door underneath the staircase, the one that leads to the basement with the stone that once held Excalibur.

Killian searches the dining room and living room in case he had put the dreamcatcher in either of those places before finding Emma, though he still can’t find it. Panic sets in deep in his chest as he quickens his searching pace and looks everywhere he can think of but to no avail.

The dreamcatcher is gone.

Emma’s _memories_ are gone.

“No, no, no,” the pirate mumbles, fear taking root in his heart. He wonders where the dreamcatcher could have gone. _I left it on the floor and I followed Emma, but now it’s missing. It’s not as if it sprouted legs and walked away, so where did it go? Emma is relying on me to help her regain her memories._

He looks up at his girlfriend and sees she’s just exploring the living room like a child in a toy store, everything an entirely new experience for her. Normally he would think that she looks cute like this, innocent and curious. But he has to remind himself that this isn’t normal, that Emma isn’t herself. She doesn’t even know who she is, or who she’s supposed to be.

He sighs and closes his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. The dreamcatcher is gone and there’s no doubt in his mind that the witch came back and took it. Probably just to spite him too. Now what will he do about Emma’s missing memories? Her mind is like a blank slate now and it’s all because of him, because of his stupid thirst for revenge. He doesn’t know what to do now. He doesn’t know how to help her. How can you save someone who doesn’t even know they need to be saved? He opens his eyes and looks at Emma again, watching her amusement at tracing the patterns on the throw pillows that she’s taken off of the couch. She’s completely unaware of the turmoil he’s going through right now, and he wants to keep it that way.

He sits down on a nearby chair and watches her entertain herself like a young child would as he sighs deeply. What will he tell Henry and her parents? Nothing. _They don’t need to know. I can fix it before they find out._ His lips twitch up into a small smile at the idea. Yes, he can find Zelena and take the dreamcatcher back from her before Snow and David know what he did to Emma! He can restore Emma’s memories to her before anyone discovers that they were even gone!

But how will he leave to search for the witch without leaving Emma here all alone? He needs to think of another way to keep Emma safe at all times while he gets the dreamcatcher back. His mind wanders, stumbling over different ideas and thoughts for what to do, his eyes unfocused and distant.

“They’re moving again,” Emma says, breaking Killian out of his internal struggle for a plan. He quickly turns around to see Emma looking out the window at her family, holding the curtain away from the glass to get a better look. She waves gently as a small smile settles on her face before turning back to the other Dark One. “Are they your friends?”

Killian nearly jumps up from the chair and points at the door, magically forcing it to lock the others outside. “Close the curtain,” he utters out in a panic. “Don’t let them see you!”  
Emma hastily yanks the cloth over the window and steps several feet away from the wall into the center of the room. “Sorry, I thought they were—“

The pirate holds up his hand to shush his girlfriend, a silent command she immediately understands. She shuts her mouth and looks toward the door as the knob twitches and the people outside pound their fists against the wood.

“Emma!” A voice from outside yells, startling the woman in question.

“Open the door, sweetie, we just want to talk,” the woman from earlier shouts, her voice noticeably softer.

The pounding gets louder and Emma backs away toward the staircase, distress clear on her face. “A-are they here to h-hurt me?” Killian lightly rests his hand on her shoulder, shaking his head ‘no’ so she can understand what he’s trying to say without speaking. “You’re sure?” The blonde whispers, sitting on the first few stairs.

“As long as I’m here, you’ll be safe,” Killian replies, pulling the slightly shaken woman into a half-hug. “I promise.”


	2. Chapter 2

Zelena quietly navigates through the hospital hallways, searching for the room that she was in just a few short hours ago. After that stupid pirate sent her to some tiny room upstairs in the Savior’s house, she decided to stick around and eavesdrop in case she heard any useful information from the Dark Ones. And she certainly did.

The witch looks down at the stolen dreamcatcher in her hand and smirks to herself, remembering how idiotic Hook had been when he left this on the floor and ran out the door after Emma. It’s almost like he _wanted_ Zelena to steal the dreamcatcher. Of course, she had looked through a few of the memories in it before taking it. She simply had to see how many of Emma’s memories were in it first. And to her luck, all of them were!

However, she still needs to figure out what to do with the dreamcatcher. She can’t just keep it lying around all the time.

The new mother takes a left turn in the hallway and comes face to face with Robin, the one man she really didn’t feel like seeing right now.

“What are you doing back here?” The forest-dweller asks, taking a step back and pointing at Zelena.

“What does it look like?” She replies angrily. “I’m getting my baby back, and I don’t need you getting in my way.” She waves her hand and Robin falls to the floor unconscious. She walks around his sleeping body and continues down the hallway. “There, that’s better.”

There was no way she could miss the nursery. It was a giant window showing a room full of mostly empty baby cradles, and only one was occupied. A smile spread on her face while she looked down at her newborn daughter. She poofs her way into the room and knocks out the only nurse in the room. Gently picking up her baby, Zelena breathes a sigh of relief and closes her eyes, cherishing the time she finally has to be with her child.

“There, there, my darling,” she whispers calmly as the baby starts to fuss. “Mummy’s here now. You’re safe.”

She can’t stay like this forever, she knows, but at least she has a few minutes to spend in peace after such a chaotic day. Eventually she’ll have to find a place to take her daughter and hide from the heroes, but for now, she can pretend that everything is okay. Right now no one is trying to take her baby from her and nothing is wrong.

* * *

 

“Emma!” David yells, pounding his fists against the door furiously. She was just _so close_ to them, and if he hadn’t been frozen in place, he would have reached out to hug his daughter. She looked so confused earlier like she needed guidance and she didn’t know where to find it.

Of course, it had occurred to him that it could have been a trick to make them let their guards down so she could strike when they’re vulnerable. But surely Emma can’t be capable of such manipulation, right?

“Open the door, sweetie, we just want to talk,” Snow pleads, softly tapping her fist on the white door. She looks as though she is on the verge of tears, her shoulders already shaking while her voice trembles.

They stay on the front porch for a few more minutes, hoping against all odds that Emma might come to her senses and let them inside. But they all know their attempts are futile. The Dark One is in charge now, it seems, and she has no plans to encounter her family anytime soon. Snow hugs her husband as a few teardrops trail down her smooth cheeks. If only they could have moved earlier, then they wouldn’t be standing outside right now. They’d be with their daughter, maybe even getting her to talk to them.

“It’s no use,” Regina grumbles, shivering a little from the cold. “She’ll never let us in. Let’s just go back to the hospital.”

The queen walks down the porch steps, making her way toward the street.

“Regina, wait,” Snow calls out to her friend, slowly following her. “Maybe Emma is just talking to Hook. He went in there with her earlier.”

“Yeah, speaking of which,” David spoke up, confused and slightly irritated. “What is he doing here anyway? And why didn’t he bother trying to help us? He saw us, didn’t he?”

But his words are ignored as Regina continues to leave the area, now with Snow following behind her, listing off reasons why they shouldn’t just abandon Emma when she might need them. The prince sighs and follows the woman, taking one more look back at the house, wondering what could be going on inside.

* * *

 

Killian knows they’ve left before he even looks outside. Emma dozed off a few minutes ago and he laid her down on the couch, although he knows it probably isn’t the most comfortable situation to be in. He’s in a bit of a predicament himself, too. He peers out the window through the curtains and watches the royals leave the property, disheartened by their failed attempts to lure Emma out of the house. But he wouldn’t let her out, because then they would know what he did to her. They would never believe it was an accident, no matter how many times he’d tell them.

He’s drawn from his thoughts by the sound of Emma’s light snoring. _That’s new,_ he thinks. He’s seen Emma sleep dozens of times, but he’s never heard her snore before. It’s not an unpleasant noise, but it’s also not something he wants to hear often. Recalling all of the previous times she’s slept in his arms, and how silent she always was before, he comes to one simple conclusion.

“Darling, are you awake?” Killian asks, turning to look at Emma, who fidgets awkwardly on the small sofa. He waits for an answer in the quiet living room for a few moments, but she doesn’t speak. Her scratchy intakes of breath come to a stop and she squeezes her eyes shut tighter.

“No,” she answers quietly, still attempting to feign sleep despite exposing her ruse.

His mouth quirks into a small smile and he shakes his head. Though she can’t remember who she is, she’s still his Swan through and through. His face turns downcast at the reminder that her memories are gone. He believes that Zelena must have taken the dreamcatcher because no one else would have known to. It couldn’t have been Emma’s parents or Regina, they were stuck on the front lawn earlier when he returned to the house with Emma. Not to mention that they have no idea Emma’s memories are missing in the first place.

A sigh escapes his lips as he reminds himself, not for the first time tonight, that he has to face David and Snow sooner or later. But first, he needs to think of what to tell them when they ask why he was at Emma’s house. He could always tell them that he stayed the night here, though that would result in a very angry prince at his throat. He chuckles at the thought, already amused by the idea of subtly irritating David. Maybe he won’t need to provide a reason. Maybe they’ll be too caught up in something more important to notice, he hopes.

Leaning Excalibur against the doorframe, Killian makes his way to the couch Emma is resting on and gently rubs her shoulder to rouse her from sleep. Though he doubts she’s actually sleeping.

Sure enough, she isn’t. Her eyes open quickly the moment his hand comes in contact with her skin and she looks up at him with little to no emotion, reminding him that she doesn’t really know who he is anymore.

“Love, follow me,” he whispers, but he doesn’t know exactly why. “I’m taking you upstairs so you can be in a proper bed.”

She only nods her head and stands with him, looking groggy despite no longer requiring sleep. They reach the staircase and she suddenly begins to ask him questions. He should have expected it, but in all honesty, he didn’t.

“Is there something more comfortable I can wear?” Emma speaks up on the first step.

“I’m sure there’s something upstairs in your room.”

Her eyes widen at this and a smile spreads across her face. “I have my own room? Can I see it?”

“Yes, that’s where I’m taking you.” If it weren’t for the lack of memories in her mind right now, he would find her behavior amusing. But all he can feel is guilt for what he’s done to her. They make it to the second floor and turn down the hallway as she continues.

“Why did those people know my name? Do you know them?”

He wasn’t sure how to answer that one without confusing her further, so he settled for the vaguest answer he could muster. “Yes, I know them.”

“Who are they? Are they your friends? Were they trying to break in? How do you know me? Earlier you said I’d understand something soon enough, but I’m confused. What am I supposed to understand?”

He rubs his hand over his face and groans inwardly. He didn’t think her curiosity would be so undying, but he supposes it’s the price he has to pay for what he did to Emma. They enter a large bedroom with an enormous bed that has been delicately made and decorated with silk pillows. A sea chest rests on the floor near the closet, with a hook shape carved onto the top. He smiles sadly, knowing Emma must have been beyond excited to furnish this house while thinking of moving into it with him. Only for him to learn the truth of what happened in Camelot and steal all of her memories from her head.

“This is cute!” Emma nearly squeals from the closet that he didn’t notice her enter. She holds up a nearly transparent nightgown that would probably fall no lower than her mid-thigh. “But it’s black. Why is everything in here black?” She folds the nightgown and puts it back in the closet.

Finally finding something that isn’t black, – _it’s dark grey,_ Emma thinks with slight disdain – she ventures to the bathroom and changes into it. It’s just a large shirt, obviously meant for a man, with a pirate ship printed onto the front of it. However, not wanting to look so provocative in front of the man, she also pulls on some sweatpants. Black. Of course. She looks in the mirror and sighs at her appearance, upset at how ridiculous she believes she looks. White hair and blood red lipstick that clashes against her pale skin? _What was I thinking?_

Killian watches her enter the room and set the clothes she was previously wearing into a hamper next to the bathroom door. Her hair now cascades down her shoulders and back, and her makeup is wiped off of her face. She almost looks like herself again, but there are still too many things about her appearance and behavior that seem all wrong.

Though that makes sense, especially now that she doesn’t know how to be her old self.

The pirate stands up from the edge of the bed and offers Emma his hand, leading her to lay down on the bed. “You stay here, love,” he says, “and get some sleep. I’ll just be downstairs.”

She does what he tells her and closes her eyes, but he knows sleep won’t find her. After all, she’s still a Dark One and is cursed to remain awake for the rest of her life. Unless, of course, the heroes somehow manage to destroy the Darkness. Even when he didn’t remember being a Dark One, he couldn’t get a good night’s rest at any point after returning from Camelot. Now he knows why.

When he reaches the door and flicks off the light switch, he hears her quiet voice call out to him.

“What’s your name again?” Emma asks from the bed, her cheeks coloring a light pink in slight embarrassment. “I’m sorry, I forgot.”

 _It’s not the only thing you forgot_ , he thinks bitterly, self-loathing settling in his mind once again. His heart squeezes painfully, but he doesn’t dare turn around to look at her again. It would just hurt more, he knows. “It’s Killian.”

And with that, he leaves her alone in the dark room.

* * *

 

“Robin?”

The archer lifts his head from the cold floor of the hospital hallway, his body aching from the abrupt fall he took earlier. Four hands reach to help him stand properly and he shakes his head a few times to gather his thoughts. In front of him stands Regina, David, and Snow, all looking very concerned.

“What happened?” Regina asks, holding onto his shoulders to keep him balanced while he regains his composure.

“Z-Zelena,” Robin barely manages to mumble before they all start to run down the hallway to the nursery room. He quickly follows suit.

Regina is the first one to burst into the now empty nursery, rage boiling inside of her. She sees the unconscious nurse on the floor first and knows that Zelena came back to steal the baby. She stomps on the floor angrily, the loud clack of her heel hitting the concrete resonating throughout the room.

“Damnit! She took the kid,” Regina nearly shouts as Robin finally catches up and enters the room behind her. “We _need_ to find her.”

“You don’t suppose she’s conspiring with the Dar—,” Robin starts before being silenced by the warning glance from David. “Sorry, I meant to say ‘ _Emma’_. Zelena hasn’t, uh, joined her… has she?”

“No. Emma would never kidnap a baby,” Snow defends quickly, wanting the conversation topic to change to something that doesn’t involve the thought of her daughter joining forces with the witch.

Regina waves her hands a few times and impatiently sighs. “No, no, this has nothing to do with Emma. I only sense Zelena’s magic in here. She did this alone.”

Snow and David visibly relax to an extent, relieved Emma didn’t do anything to the baby, but also aware that Zelena did. “Do you think she’ll hurt the baby?” Snow ponders aloud. “Maybe she just wants to keep it and take care of it.”

Robin sighs, speaking as if he’s rehearsed what to say a million times. “The baby is just as much Zelena’s child as she is mine. She will want to have what belongs to her.”

Snow and David share a worried glance, torn between priorities. On one hand, Zelena has kidnapped her baby from the hospital and surely hidden where they can’t find her. On the other hand, Emma’s locked herself inside her house with Excalibur, and no one even knows for sure whose side she’s on. She didn’t attack them earlier, so that’s a good sign. However, she also froze them in place, locked them out of her house, kidnapped Zelena after forcing her into labor, probably abducted Hook by the looks of it, and united Excalibur because… why?

All they know is that Excalibur can destroy all Darkness or all Light. Emma can’t possibly have fallen so far down her Dark path to want to abolish the Light forever. The thought makes Snow feel sick to her stomach. She steps out into the hallway to try to find some semblance of fresh air, but the hospital feels too constricting. David follows her into the hallway, Regina’s voice fading away as they leave the nursery.

The queen watches the couple leave the room and deems it safe to show affection to Robin without an audience watching. She embraces him tightly, trying to comfort him in the midst of chaos.

“Regina, it’s my fault,” Robin begins his voice trembling as tears form in his eyes. “I should have been in here, I should have been watching her. I should have—“

“Don’t blame yourself,” Regina says sternly. “It’s not your fault. It’s Zelena’s. She came back here and took her baby, but you and I both know she would never hurt her.”

Robin’s shoulders slacken in defeat, but he looks a little more hopeful. “So what are we waiting for? Let’s go find them. I want my daughter back.”

“I know you do. But I think it’s best to postpone this search until the morning.” She holds up her hands innocently, trying to soothe the emotionally wrecked father in front of her. “It’s been a long day and we all need our rest. Besides, Zelena won’t harm the baby in any way. I promise.”

Robin nods his head, surrendering to the plan. He holds out his hand and Regina takes it, squeezing his fingers reassuringly. They go out into the hallway where Snow and David are quietly chatting and hugging each other. The married couple breaks apart when they see the other two, waiting to hear the latest plan.

“We’re all going to meet up at Granny’s tomorrow morning,” Regina explains to Snow and David. “How does nine o’clock sound? Henry will be at school by then.”

“Sounds good,” David agrees, wrapping his arms around his wife, looking to her for affirmation. Snow nods her head and they both say their goodbyes and leave the hospital.

Robin hugs Regina again, holding onto her tightly as if she is his very lifeline. And maybe she is right now. “We’ll find her soon, right?” Robin asks, looking at her with uneasiness all over his face, waiting for her confirmation on the question. Regina smiles assuredly and kisses him softly.

“Of course we will. With my magic, and Zelena’s incompetence, nothing will keep us from getting your daughter back to you.”

* * *

 

Emma lays awake in bed, shifting into a different position every few minutes. She can’t seem to fall asleep. It’s probably due to the fact that she’s in an unfamiliar house with a stranger downstairs. Groaning in frustration, she gets up from the bed. Maybe if she feels more comfortable with her surroundings, she’s more likely to fall asleep sooner. She goes toward the door and opens it quietly, peering out into the hallway, but Killian isn’t there. Stepping into the hallway and closing the door behind her, she decides to explore the rest of the rooms upstairs.

She opens the first door she sees, only to find a simple bathroom.

_Okay, nothing here._

Venturing further down the hallway, she investigates other rooms, but everything is relatively normal for a house. A guest room. Another bathroom. A bedroom meant for an older child or teenager. An unfurnished room full of boxes with pictures of furniture on them. That room was locked for some reason but luckily she found the key for it on top of the doorframe. She finds a way into the attic by pulling down a ladder from the ceiling.

The attic is mainly empty, but it has a few boxes here and there which are full of what she assumes to be trash. There are some old videotapes and scrapbooks, but what draws her attention is a knitted blanket with her name embroidered in the corner. She pulls it out of the box and runs her fingers over the cursive letters lightly. It’s so soft and clean, despite being in this old attic for an undetermined amount of time. She clutches the blanket close to her chest and makes her way down from the attic with it. After dropping it off on a chair in her bedroom, she continues her exploration of the house.

There’s nothing left upstairs to explore, so she tentatively tiptoes downstairs, hoping not to draw Killian’s attention. But the house is completely silent. It’s as if he left. Maybe he did.

Emma steps into the living room and looks around for Killian, but he isn’t here. She looks in the kitchen and dining room. He’s nowhere to be seen. For some reason, she’s less relieved than the thought she would be. But his absence gives her the opportunity to explore the one place he kept avoiding earlier.

She walks to the door underneath the staircase, the one with a huge black lock on it, and smiles to herself. If she can pry open the door, then maybe she can see what Killian is hiding down there. Well, that is, _if_ he’s hiding anything. But she’s sure he is. He must be. Why else would the door be locked if it’s not to hide something from someone else?

Reaching out to touch the lock, the door suddenly swings open to reveal what could have been a normal closet, except for the archway with a downward staircase leading to complete darkness.

Emma blinks a few times in surprise.

 _Did I open that?_ She wonders, looking at her hand, astonished that she was able to open the door without even touching it. But her hand is as ordinary as it was earlier. There’s nothing new with it. No glowing fingertips or magical markings anywhere.

She looks back up at the closet and squares her shoulders in determination, deciding that she should go down there before Killian gets back from wherever he went to.

She enters the closet and descends the staircase into the darkness.


	3. Chapter 3

The moment the shed door opens, Killian knows he has to find a safer place to store the dreamcatchers. What was Emma thinking, putting all of these in here? The shed has windows that anyone can easily look through and see hundreds of dreamcatchers just hanging from the ceiling and lying on the worktable. He pinches the bridge of his nose, chuckling darkly at the irony.

For someone who has spent her whole life hiding from people, she can’t hide simple objects for the life of her. She probably thought that this was the best place to keep them away from prying eyes, but the basement would have been much better for keeping these things out of sight. Excalibur stayed successfully hidden for quite a while down there. Now that it’s been found, no one will think that there is anything else important underneath Emma’s house. It’s the perfect place to put all of the dreamcatchers for the time being.

Killian picks up an old box from the floor and begins filling it with dreamcatchers, hoping to fit them all so he doesn’t have to find another box and make a second trip to the basement. After all, his control over his magic has already proven to be unreliable, so he can’t just try to poof the dreamcatchers to the basement.

To his surprise, they all fit in the large box, so he folds the top closed and carries the box out of the shed and into Emma’s house. The house they were supposed to share together. He closes the door behind him, expecting to hear footsteps upstairs as an indication that Emma’s found out she can’t sleep.

But the house is eerily silent. He raises an eyebrow in slight confusion, but he quickly brushes it off as paranoia. He turns the corner toward the staircase, nearly dropping the box of dreamcatchers when he sees that the door to the basement is wide open. He gasps and rushes to the closet, box clutched in his arms, and quietly makes his way down the staircase.

When he reaches the floor of the basement, he can only stand and watch as Emma examines the room she held the crocodile captive in for weeks, completely oblivious to his presence. She runs her fingers along the stone that held Excalibur, shivering at the touch. After a few moments, she notices a stool with a half-eaten bowl of oatmeal next to the large gate that is still adorned with the ropes that she tied Gold’s arms up with. Killian sees her tilt her head, obviously confused by what she probably thinks are decorations.

Before Emma has the chance to discover he’s watching her, Killian speaks up to catch her attention.

“How did you get down here?” He asks in the most authoritative voice he can manage, but the question in his voice gives away his desperation to know how she ended up getting through the locked door underneath the staircase.

Emma jumps slightly in shock and spins around to stare wide-eyed at Killian, startled by his sudden appearance in the cave-like basement. “I couldn’t sleep,” she answers lamely, knowing it’s a pathetic excuse and definitely not the answer he wanted.

“Not quite what I was asking,” he replies, setting the box down against the wall. “How did you get through the locked door?”

She looks down at her feet and fiddles with her fingers like a child who got caught breaking into the cookie jar as a pink blush stains her cheeks. “I-I don’t know.”

“How can you not know?” He asks, not understanding how she could have gotten in without using magic. And she doesn’t even remember having magic in the first place, so how could she possibly use it?

“Well, I just,” she trails off, looking up at him with innocent eyes, not quite sure how to explain her story to him. “I just reached out to hold the lock so I could look at it closer and the door opened all by itself. I swear I didn’t do anything!” She holds up her hands to show that she isn’t guilty and stares Killian in the eyes in hopes of making him believe her words. “I didn’t mean to.”

The pirate nods slowly, realizing that she must have accidentally willed the door to open with magic. Even though she doesn’t remember ever possessing magical qualities. He reaches his hand out toward her and she slowly accepts it.

“It’s alright, love,” he reassures her, easing the self-inflicted guilt that had begun to build up inside of her. “Why don’t we go upstairs so you can get some rest?”

She eyes him skeptically, then pulls her hand away and moves toward a small outcropping of stone against the wall, sitting down on the cold, hard surface. She speaks with determination in her voice. “First I want to know what this place is. It doesn’t really seem like a normal basement.”

Killian chuckles and sits next to her. “I’d like to know the same thing, love. But I don’t live here so I wasn’t exactly privy to the decision making for the interior of the house.”

“This isn’t your house? Then whose is it?”

He considers telling her the truth, but that would just make more questions sprout up. Questions that he isn’t inclined to answer without being able to restore her memories to their rightful place. So he settles for the next best thing, the type of answer that has been most reliable so far throughout this whole situation.

“It belongs to someone very close to me,” he answers vaguely, causing Emma to pout in frustration.

“What is it with you and all these cryptic answers?” She asks, leaning against the wall and folding her arms, much like something an angry child would do. Though, he can’t blame her for acting this way all the time. Her memories of maturing and building up walls around her heart are also gone for the time being. He is still slightly disturbed to be comparing her actions to the same ones children would make, but there isn’t much else he can think of when it comes to her new behavior.

“I just like to keep things less complicated by giving you fewer details on certain subjects,” he finally speaks, mumbling quietly. “Now that we’re done, can you please go back to bed?”

“But I’m not tired,” she whines as she folds her legs up and wraps her arms around them. “I couldn’t sleep earlier, that’s why I went exploring. All of the doors are locked, by the way.”

He groans in exhaustion, wanting more than anything to just sleep for one hundred years. But being a Dark One means he has to be conscious every waking moment to feel the guilt and regret of all of the things he has done in his life, both old and new. And one of the biggest things eating him alive is what he did to his Swan. What kind of terrible man destroys his girlfriend’s life just to get back at her for something petty? He looks over at Emma and clasps her hand with his, causing her to look up and smile at him naively.

“So do I have to go to bed?” She asks in what she hopes is a convincing tone. “Because I think I should be able to explore for a little while longer. I found some old stuff in the attic and a locked room upstairs and another bedroom for someone else and—“

“No, Emma, you need to rest.” His tone has an edge of finality to it.

“Killian, you don’t get it. I _can’t_ sleep,” she complains desperately.

He _does_ get it. He understands her problem perfectly, but he doesn’t have time to deal with a little bump in the road while he could be out searching for Zelena. “I didn’t tell you to sleep, I told you to rest. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have somewhere I need to be.”

He stands and starts for the staircase to the house, quickly followed by Emma. He holds the door to the basement open for her as she steps back into the house that feels familiar yet foreign to her at the same time. Killian makes sure to lock the door behind them, hoping she doesn’t get into the basement again. After all, the potion to remove her magic is still down there, and if she finds it and drinks it…

He gulps, but Emma doesn’t seem to notice.

 When they enter the living room, he turns to her and gestures toward the staircase.

“I’ll be taking my leave now, Swan,” he starts cautiously, not wanting to leave her all alone here. What if she thinks he’s abandoning her?

“Why?” Emma asks, her face a mask of no emotion again. He hates that look, it scares him all the way to the bloody core of his being.

“I lost something and I need to go look for it,” he explains to her as if he’s talking to a young child, willing her to understand enough so she won’t ask any more questions.

His answer seems to do the trick for a few seconds, but Emma’s interest has yet to be sated.

“What did you lose?”

He doesn’t see the point lying to her about something as seemingly simple as a dreamcatcher, so he tells her the truth.

“I lost a dreamcatcher,” Killian says. “It’s very important to me and I need it back as quickly as possible.”

“What makes it important?”

Perhaps he should have expected that question. His gaze burns intensely as he stares at her with determination in his eyes. “I did something bad and I need to fix it. The dreamcatcher is the only way to solve this problem.”

Surprisingly, she accepts this and is immediately silenced by what has apparently been an acceptable answer.

“Okay.” She shrugs innocently. Then she realizes that she’ll be here alone and she feels the desperate need to know if he’s leaving her for good. She doesn’t know what brought about this sudden fear of being abandoned by him. All she knows is that without him, she won’t know what to do or where to go. Something will be missing if he leaves her. She reaches out and grasps onto his hand boldly, believing it will provide some comfort for her. And to her surprise — and pleasant confusion — it actually calms her down, if only a little bit. “Are you ever going to come back?”

Well _that’s_ not the question she was planning to ask him.

Without thinking, he pulls her in for a hug and holds her tightly to him, despite her subtle squirming. She doesn’t protest, she only readjusts herself against him and wraps her arms around his middle awkwardly, not sure what brought about this sudden bout of affection from him. She’s thankful that he’s hugging her, though. She fully relaxes within his embrace and takes a few calming breaths, glad that he seemed to almost read her mind and know that she was in need of something comforting to quiet her anxious thoughts. Finally, after several moments of silence, he speaks quietly into her hair, his words almost lost within her white tresses.

“Of course I’m coming back. I will never leave you. I promise.” His fingers tangle in her hair and she knows it should be at least slightly painful with the way he is clutching at her faintly mussed hair, but for some reason, it isn’t at all. It’s actually reassuring to know he cares about her so much, but she still doesn’t really know why. “I’ll never leave you,” he repeats over and over again like a mantra. His lips press to her forehead and he closes his eyes, reveling in the feeling of her safely in his arms.

She sighs in relief, happy to know that he doesn’t plan to neglect her. “Thank you,” she says, her voice sounding shakier than she’s comfortable with. “I just—I don’t really know why I got all scared like that. I know you’re not leaving me behind, and I’m sorry that I—“

He laughs humorously, trying to mask his nervousness, his chest rumbling lowly against her hands, and she decides that she quite enjoys that feeling. “It’s alright, love. I understand. Next time I’ll be more careful with my choice of words. How does that sound?”

Emma nods as his hand on her shoulder keeps her still enough to come down from her bizarre emotional panic attack that apparently just came out of nowhere. “Yeah, yeah, I’m okay. Wow,” she chuckles awkwardly, rubbing her eyes and finding some moisture that gathered there while she thought of him leaving her forever. “I don’t know what came over me.”

Killian hugs her again and presses a kiss to her forehead. “I’ll be back. If not tonight, then tomorrow for sure. So that means you’ll stay and—“

“Oh yeah, speaking of which,” Emma cuts him off, not catching how her interruption can be seen as ill-mannered. “Why can’t I leave this house? Does it have something to do with the people who were here earlier? Who are they, again?”

Killian walks past her and grabs Excalibur from its resting place against the doorway, waving his hand over it and making it disappear in a cloud of deep crimson. Emma ignores the blatant use of magic and brushes it off as something that she’s probably been used to for a long time now. “How about we put a limit on how many questions you can ask within the span of one hour?”

Her face lights up at this and she jumps up excitedly, forgetting her very recent panic attack in record time. “Is this like a game?”

“Uh, yes, sure,” he mumbles, adjusting the buttons on his jacket and grabbing his coat from the coatrack to prepare for the cold weather he’ll be in soon. “It’s like a game.”

“What are the rules? How can I win?”

“Well, uh, the rules are,” he trails off, trying to think of rules for a fake ‘game’ he has just made up on the spot. “You can only ask three questions every hour, and I’ll answer them all. If you ask more than three then, uh, then I won’t answer any more of your questions for the rest of the day. There, those are the rules.”

She follows him to the door. “Before we start, can I ask you something?”

He loves her, he does. But her lust for knowledge is really starting to exhaust him. And he doesn’t feel like he should give her the answers to questions that she won’t have a reason to ask when he returns her memories. “I suppose so.”

“When will the game end?”

He stiffens, quickly slipping into the façade he’s been keeping up around this version of Emma and hopes she doesn’t notice his immediate reaction.

“Trust me, it won’t last long at all. Hopefully, by tomorrow, the game will end.”

“That’s not very specific.”

Rage builds up inside of him, but it most certainly isn’t a new development. No, he’s been angry since he inadvertently stole her memories and allowed Zelena to escape with the dreamcatcher. He isn’t mad at her, because that would be ridiculous. Rather, he is mad at himself for letting all of this to happen.

He told her once that he would protect her from all dangers, but he didn’t foresee one of those dangers being himself. The pirate looks at the savior and clenches his jaw furiously. He’s the reason that she can’t remember her family and friends. The reason she can’t remember _him_. And when he returns her memories to her, she’ll be absolutely pissed at him. She’ll hate him for what he did to her. He knows she will.

As much as he dislikes the idea of her despising him, he still knows he needs to retrieve the dreamcatcher as soon as he can, so he decides that it’s best to leave her presence before his guilt-ridden thoughts consume him. Because he knows they will eventually.

“I’d love to stay and chat, but I need to get going now. I’ll be back soon,” Killian suddenly blurts, breaking the empty silence that had settled in the room. He waves his hand over the door, unlocking it with ease, and slipping outside into the chilly night. He closes and locks the door again, reinforcing it with what he hopes is blood magic. But without a guide to educate him in the area of magic, he can only assume that he’s doing what he wants to do.

He heads down the staircase and looks back at the house and sees Emma peeking out the window, watching him leave. She quickly pulls the curtain closed, but not before a blush stains her cheeks a flattering pink. He smiles half-heartedly and leaves the property, and Emma, behind as he goes out in search of the Wicked Witch.

* * *

 

Zelena gently sets her baby down in the cradle she conjured earlier. She’s glad she went back to her old farmhouse. It’s a secluded and safe place to hide with her new daughter, whom she still needs to name, she realizes. The new mother sits down on a chair next to the cradle and rocks it soothingly, lulling the baby to sleep while humming a quiet lullaby. She smiles contentedly and closes her eyes. She finally has a moment of happiness in her life that has yet to be interrupted.

Now if only she could find a way back to Oz so she can leave with her baby and never have to see these heroes again. By herself, she doesn’t have enough magic to create a portal. She needs the wand that she used weeks ago to get to Camelot, but she doesn’t know where Regina undoubtedly hid it. Probably in her infernal vault.

The witch rolls her eyes at the thought of Regina, once again, ruining her happiness. It’s a shame there is no one else powerful enough to open a portal with any other sort of wand who would be willing to help her.

A thought crosses her mind and she looks down at the dreamcatcher on the table next to her.

 _Actually,_ she thinks, a sinister smile crossing her features, _maybe there is. Or there will be soon, at least._

She holds up the dreamcatcher and studies it closely, looking through a few of the memories Emma has of her. If she can find a way to just some of these memories and return them to the Savior, maybe she’ll be more inclined to help. Zelena holds back a laugh at her brilliant plan. Maybe after a full night’s rest and some more time to work out the kinks in this plan, she’ll be able to put it into action. And while she’s at it, hell, she might as well just convince Emma to join her permanently. If she is right, and she really _can_ manipulate these memories, then she’ll have the other woman practically begging to work for her soon enough.

And when the heroes see that Zelena has the new Dark One on her side, they’ll surely surrender on the spot!

Zelena leans back in the chair and smiles widely. Oh yes, this is simply a marvelous idea, and she can’t wait for it all to begin.


	4. Chapter 4

The bell above the door chimes as Killian steps into Granny’s diner, exhaustion written all over his face. He went to every place he could think of last night, but Zelena is nowhere to be found. She must have put some sort of cloak over the place that she’s staying at. Or she left town.

He internally shudders at the thought of Zelena leaving Storybrooke with Emma’s memories. But he squashes the dark idea quickly. Zelena can’t leave Storybrooke, she’s just as cursed as everyone else. She would turn into a tree, and she wouldn’t risk her freedom to do something so idiotic. There’s also the looming thought that perhaps the witch destroyed Emma’s memories. Killian hates that thought. If she truly _did_ burn or break the dreamcatcher, then she would no longer have leverage over him. And everyone knows how much Zelena loves to have the upper hand against her enemies.

He looks up from the tiled floor and his stomach turns as he sees Emma’s family sitting at their usual booth. Ever since last night, he hasn’t felt comfortable knowing he’ll have to face them sooner or later, whether or not they know about the new development regarding Emma. Maybe he can sneak back out the door before they see him.

Unfortunately, Snow chooses that moment to look up and notice his presence. She waves Killian over to the table and he hesitantly makes his way to them and sits down next to Henry.

“There you are,” Snow says. She almost sounds relieved, but there’s something else in her voice that he can’t quite place. “We have a couple of questions to ask you.”

David straightens his back and sets down the glass of water he had been drinking. “Why were you at Emma’s house last night?”

 _Straight to the point then_ , Killian thinks, immediately falling into his preplanned answers that he knew he would have to say at some point. “I saw her running down the street and stopped her. I suppose something must have spooked her because she was looking a bit frazzled and I took her back home.”

The two consider his explanation before respectfully accepting it as the truth. It’s a good thing Emma isn’t here because she would be able to sniff out his lie in a heartbeat.

“Okay, then why did she ask us who we are?” Snow asks, sounding and looking nervous.

He expected this one. In fact, he went over this question countless times in his head during the night, trying to think of a believable reason for Emma to ask such a strange question. In the end, he had to settle for the worst one, which may also turn out to be the best.

“I’m not quite sure,” he says, trying to sound sincere. “After she closed the door, she didn’t bring it up. You saw her wave at you through the window, right?” That earned him a few head nods. “She disregarded that too. I believe she may have been trying to fool you into letting your guards down.” The words taste sour in his mouth as he speaks about his Swan like this. He hates talking about her as if she is a villain who didn’t just lose her memories and is currently staying in what she doesn’t know is her own house.

Apparently, those were the only things that the royals wanted to ask him, so he can finally relax from the constant questions that everyone keeps asking him. First, it was Emma with her unending curiosity that really started to get on his nerves, now it’s her parents demanding to know things that they assume he knows. He leans back in the booth and closes his eyes.

“You okay?” Henry whispers as Snow and David have a quiet conversation of their own on the other side of the table.

“I’m fine, lad,” Killian replies. “Just tired.”

Henry shrugs and turns back toward his plate of pancakes, occupied with things he apparently finds more important now.

The bell rings loudly and the familiar sound of sharp heels on the linoleum floor fills the diner briefly.

“Oh, good, you’re all here,” Regina says as she pulls two chairs up to the table and sits in one, Robin taking the seat next to her. “I think I might know where Zelena is. Her old farmhouse. But she’s probably put a cloaking spell over it to keep it hidden.”

“How do we break it?” Snow asks. Regina rolls her eyes as if the answer is obvious.

“It’s just a simple spell. I have something in my vault that can get past it. I can go get it later and we can all get that baby back from Zelena.

Killian sighs in relief. He isn’t sure why exactly they’re looking for Zelena, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that they’ve found a way to get to her! Getting Emma’s memories back will be easier than he thought. And in the end, he’ll never have to tell anyone what he did. “I’ll go with you to the witch’s hideout,” he volunteers. “I’ve got nothing better to do, now do I?”

Regina looks a little skeptical for a moment before Robin smiles and pats Killian on the back. “The more the merrier, eh mate? Thanks for helping us look for her.”

Killian allows himself to smile a little, but then Henry perks up.

“While you guys are getting the baby back, don’t you think someone should check in on Mom? No one knows what she’s planning to do and I haven’t seen her for a while.”

Panic sets in and Killian immediately shoots Henry’s plan down. “That’s probably not a good idea,” he says, hoping his voice doesn’t sound shaky from the secret he’s trying to cover up. “She might be doing something dangerous that could hurt you. Best to stay out of it.”

“As much as I hate to say it, the pirate is right,” Regina says, hoping to convince Henry to back out of going through with visiting Emma. “She’s the Dark One, remember? And she has Excalibur. There’s no telling what she will do now.”

“Exactly! That’s why one of us should find out, and she trusts me the most right now,” Henry retorts. “So if I went to see her, then there’s a greater chance of her telling me something that can help us.”

David speaks up now, after having been quietly witnessing the encounter for a few minutes. “Henry, they’re right. It’s just too dangerous to be visiting Emma at a time like this.”

Henry crosses his arms in defeat and leans back against the booth, choosing now to block out his family and the rest of the diner. If he can just sneak away from his grandparents long enough to go to Emma’s house, then he’s sure that he’ll obtain some useful information that will help them save her from the Darkness. Hopefully, they’ll go to detain Zelena, or maybe he can sneak away with some excuse about hanging out with a friend from school. Yeah, that should work.

Henry listens to bits and pieces of the conversation, not really caring about how they’re organizing the day. Later he’ll see his mom and she’ll stop listening to the Darkness for a little while. He knows that he has that effect on her when she sees him. He’s her true love, so it only makes sense that he’s the one that keeps her tethered to the Light for however long he’s with her.

* * *

 

Zelena pokes the dreamcatcher, irritated that it _still_ won’t do anything. She’s been trying to alter Emma’s memories for hours, but nothing works! She’s used almost every spell she can conjure on this stupid dreamcatcher, yet not a single one of them was able to change any of the memories locked within the feathered object.

Truth be told, she doesn’t really know exactly how to alter someone’s memories that are trapped in a dreamcatcher. It should be easier than she’s making it, and there are ways to change memories in almost every other circumstance. Perhaps her mother had a spell for it!

Zelena sets the dreamcatcher down and smiles to herself. If anyone knew how to do this, it would have been Cora. But there is the little problem of her being dead. No matter, though. Everyone knows that Cora wrote down her spells in books, and Regina just so happens to possess all of those spellbooks in her vault! Now if only Zelena could figure out a way to sneak into the vault and steal the right book without leaving her daughter here alone where possible harm can come to her.

She chews the inside of her cheek as she ponders how to keep her baby protected and hidden while she sneaks into Regina’s vault. She can’t take her there, the heroes might be gathered there for some reason. They tend to be in weird locations all the time. But perhaps she can distract them and lead them astray while she sneaks into the vault with the baby. That way, neither of them will be in harm’s way.

Zelena rolls her eyes and stands up, stretching tiredly. She’s been at this all night, in between caring for her daughter, who still needs to be named. Walking to the small bedroom with the cradle in it, she thinks of possible names for her little angel. She smiles down when she sees the newborn sleeping, stroking her tiny face lightly.

“You’re beautiful, my little green bean,” she whispers and sits next to the cradle. “You need a name, don’t you? You also need a better room, but that can wait for now. How would you like to go on a field trip with Mommy, hm? Maybe we can think of something to call you on the way. Something perfect.”

The baby opens her eyes and gurgles sleepily, lifting her hand up to curl her fist around Zelena’s finger. A huge smile spreads on Zelena’s face and she lifts her baby into her arms.

“Or we can pick a name now. Hm…” She looks at her daughter and snuggles her happily. “How about… Munchkin? Would you like to be called Munchkin?” She snickers playfully when the baby gives her a blank look and she knows that she can’t understand her yet. “Yeah, I don’t like that one either. Come on, my darling. Time to go.”

She sets her child down into the cradle again and lifts it from the table it rests on gently, not wanting to jostle or disturb the baby. She carries it into the living room and notices a book of paint swatches that she was looking at earlier. Going to close it, she sees a brilliant emerald color that she had earlier put a red checkmark next to it.

_Kelly green._

“Kelly,” she mutters, repeating it louder a moment later. “Kelly!” She grabs the book and crouches next to the cradle, holding the book open so her daughter can see it. “How’s this one? It’s called ‘Kelly’. It’s my favorite shade of green. I think it would suit you perfectly.” She kisses the infant on the forehead, who then looks up with a toothless grin.

Zelena lifts the cradle and sets the book down on the table, walking toward the door. “Kelly it is, then.”

* * *

 

Emma crawls through the attic, digging through the boxes. She shakes a medium-sized box and discovers that it makes a lot of small clattering noises. Curiosity takes over and she opens the box, seeing dozens of jigsaw puzzles inside. She smiles gleefully and pulls out one that has a picture of a castle and forest on it. She’s not sure why she’s drawn to that one, but something about it makes her feel safe.

After going through a few more boxes, she finds office supplies in one. It makes her question what kind of person lives here. _They must be really boring,_ she thinks, rolling her eyes at the thought of someone owning all of this trash. She sees a small notepad and a thick red marker and pulls them out.

Flipping open the notepad, she uncaps the marker and writes her name on the paper.

_Emma._

Pride flows through her at the thought of that being _her_ name and no one else’s. As far as she knows, at least. And she supposes she doesn’t really know anyone but Killian. Oh well, it’s still her name and she likes it. She turns the page and writes her last name too.

_Swan._

“Emma Swan,” she says, self-importance flooding her veins.

She tucks the marker and notepad into the pocket on her hoodie and grabs the puzzle, making her way down the pull-out ladder and back into the upstairs hallway. A faint knock sounds from downstairs and she pauses, waiting for more noise.

“Hello?” She asks the empty house. Silence is the only thing that greets her, so she shrugs and puts the ladder back into the ceiling. There aren’t many empty places to build the puzzle upstairs so she decides to venture downstairs and put it together on the table or the living room floor. Either one will work.

As she reaches the bottom of the staircase, she hears the knock again, louder this time. It’s coming from the door so she looks directly at it, waiting for Killian to walk in at any second. But he doesn’t.

She doesn’t understand why the person outside won't just come inside, so she reaches out and turns the doorknob. It won’t open, which she quickly discovers bothers her to no end. She rattles the doorknob furiously and mutters angrily under her breath. Is it stuck? Why won’t it open?

The door suddenly swings open and she takes a step back, shocked to see a young teenage boy who is about her height and is looking at her with eyes as wide as hers.

* * *

 

Henry stands on the front porch, trying to get a look inside the house through the windows. Strangely, though, all of the curtains are pulled closed tightly. When he visited his mom the other day, he could easily peek into the house because the windows by the door were uncovered. But now it looks like they’ve been covered up with blackout curtains.

The young teenager knocks once on the door, hoping that maybe Emma will open it this time. He is beginning to think that she isn’t even home.

Then he hears it.

The quiet, but very distinguishable sound of footsteps descending a staircase and getting louder. This revives Henry’s attempts to get his mom’s attention. He knocks on the door again, mentally begging her to let him in so he can talk to her. The noise from inside halts and he wonders if she’s poofed herself away. The doorknob suddenly juggles, calmly at first, then stops. It begins to shake wildly as a couple of thuds and mutters come from inside the house.

Henry raises an eyebrow in uncertainty. _Is she trying to open the door?_ He reaches his hand out and turns the doorknob. The door opens smoothly and he doesn’t understand why it didn’t open from the inside. If Emma’s blood magic still worked, then she should have been able to open it too, right?

He looks up and sees a very nervous Emma staring at him with wide eyes. She doesn’t look like she did when he last saw her, and he isn’t sure what made her change, well – everything.

Her white hair is hanging loosely around her shoulders and her makeup has been removed from her face. She wears a black hoodie and grey sweatpants. But what really unnerves Henry is her eyes.

They’re focused on him but they hold no recognition. She’s looking at him like he’s a stranger and he doesn’t understand why. He takes a tentative step toward her and she moves back. He tries to get closer again, but she distances herself further.

“Mom?” Henry asks, making sure it’s actually _her_ he’s looking at right now.

“Uh, no, I’m Emma,” she replies, narrowing her eyes and gesturing toward herself as if the answer is obvious. “Who are you?”

The question catches him off-guard and the teenager sharply intakes a breath of air. _Did something happen to her?_ He steps closer once again and this time she doesn’t retreat from him.

“What are you talking about?” Henry is beginning to worry about his mother by her current behavior. “You know who I am.”

Emma gasps and covers her mouth with her hands, shaking her head a few times. She almost looks like she has just received the worst news anyone can ever hear and he doesn’t understand what brought about the sudden melodramatics. “I do?” She asks, giving her son a once-over. “I’m sorry. You don’t look familiar to me. Should I remember you?”

Henry blinks in shock before throwing his arms up in the air to get his point across. “Yes! Of course, you should, I’m your son!”

She is taken aback, not expecting such a response. A huge smile breaks out on her face as her excitement becomes apparent. “I have a son?” She squeaks out, her words overflowing with joy. “I’m a mother? Who’s your father? Am I married to him?”

Henry stares at her with wide eyes, finally catching onto what is wrong with her. He reaches his hand out to touch her arm, to be certain she’s real. He has to know if this is actually happening.

Emma sees his fingers approaching her arm and she meets him halfway, locking her fingers with his eagerly.

“What happened to you?” Henry asks, scared to hear the answer. “Did someone steal your memories?”

Emma cocks her head in wonder at that. “Steal my memories? How would anyone do that?”

“With magic.”

She shakes her head rapidly, almost like a child, he notices. “No, I don’t know anyone with magic. Hey, what’s your name?”

He swallows the lump in his throat, tears gathering in his eyes. She wipes away his tears quickly, trying to be motherly but not really knowing how. She leans forward and gives him a tight hug.

“What’s wrong, kid?” His heart squeezes painfully at the pet name. She doesn’t even _know_ him, yet she still calls him the same thing that she always does.

“It’s Henry.”

She smiles and pats his back gently. “I like it. Did I name you?”

He shakes his head. “No.”

“So your father named you, then. Where is he? I want to see him.”

 _So she doesn’t remember Dad. What_ does _she remember?_ He looks down at his feet and a jigsaw puzzle box that has been discarded on the floor by the staircase. He decides that it’s a bit too soon for her to know that she gave him up for adoption and that Neal is dead. “Do you remember anything from before you came to this house?”

She smiles sadly and shakes her head. “Nope. I know my name is Emma, but that’s only because Killian told me so.”

That certainly catches Henry’s attention. “Killian? You mean Hook?”

“Hook? No, he said his name is Killian. But he _does_ have a metal hook where one of his hands should be. Do you know him?”

Henry stops breathing briefly as he processes the new information. _Hook told Mom what her name is. That means he knows she’s missing her memories. What’s going on? Maybe I should take her back to Grandma and Grandpa’s place. They’ll know what to do._ “Hey, Mom, do you want to go visit someone?”

“Who?”

“Grandma and Grandpa. They’re your parents.”

She lets go of him and bounces up and down excitedly. “I have parents too? I want to see them!”

Henry grabs her hand and pulls her toward the door. “Okay, then let’s go to their place right now,” he coerces her toward the door before she stops him by stubbornly halting in her tracks.

“I should leave a note for Killian or something. He might get worried if I’m gone when he comes back.”

“Oh, uh, don’t worry about it! I already called him, he’s fine with it,” Henry says, hoping she’ll believe his lie.

She looks down at him skeptically, not believing a single word he says. The weird alarm inside of her starts blaring and somehow she just _knows_ that he is being untruthful with her. “That’s not true. I’m going to leave a note for him.” She grabs a marker and a notepad from the large pocket in her hoodie and scribbles a few words on it, setting the note down on the table in the dining room. “There, now he’ll know I’m with you!”

“Okay, that’s great mom, let’s go,” Henry complains impatiently from the door, waiting for her to follow him so he can figure out what happened to her as soon as he can.”

“Lead the way,” she says, following him out the door into the chilly autumn air. She hasn’t been outside since the other night when everything was a confusing blur and she thought that Killian was her enemy. The curtains have been closed since then and she hasn’t been able to get a good look at the outside world. Until now.

Emma breathes in the fresh air and grins from ear to ear at her son, still feeling giddy at the word that makes her a parent. She hopes she’s a good mother and that she’s always been there for Henry, because it seems like he’s always been there for her.

She looks up at the cloudy sky and silently prays that Killian won’t be mad at her for leaving without his permission.


	5. Chapter 5

“Okay, this is your last chance, Zelena,” Regina yells angrily, pummeling her fist on the old wooden door to the farmhouse. She had been right earlier about Zelena putting a protection spell over the property, but that had been fairly easy to take down. The front door, on the other hand, has been reinforced with several spells. Regina tries to remove another one of the barriers, this one breaking easily. “Open the door and nobody gets hurt!”

“Regina!” Snow chides from behind her. “We’re not going to _hurt_ her! We can reason with her.”

“Oh yeah, if I ask nicely then I’m sure she’ll let us in and we can all have a tea party,” the queen remarks sarcastically.

“No need to be hostile, now,” Robin interjects as he walks toward the women from the other side of the house, David in tow. “She’s locked the other doors and windows, but the house looks empty. I don’t think she’s here.” The archer sighs, his shoulders slumping slightly.

Regina shakes her head in denial. “There are too many protection spells in place for there not to be something hiding in there. Whatever it is, it must be important.”

“Maybe it’s the baby,” Snow chimes in, hopeful.

Robin looks at the front door in agony. “We _need_ to get inside,” he says, his voice dripping with desperation. “She’s got my daughter in there!”

“We don’t know if either of them are here right now,” Regina groans, rubbing her temples to ward off a headache. “Look, I might have something back at my vault that can take down all of these protection spells. I can just head back there and get it.”

“Should any of us come with you?” Snow asks.

“No, it’ll be quicker if I go alone.” Regina looks around, frowning. “Oh great, we lost the damn pirate.”

The four scan the area around them, not having any luck, before the doors to the cellar open across the yard and Killian steps out, looking frustrated. “There isn’t anything important in the cellar,” he calls to the rest of the group, more upset than they can see.

They return to their conversation after the confirmation that Hook is still with them. “You two should probably go home. We’ve got this here and I know how much you hate being away from Neal for very long.”

Before David or Snow can protest further, the queen disappears in a plume of purple smoke, leaving everyone frazzled and slightly frustrated with how short her patience is today. Snow glances at her husband. He looks exhausted, no doubt from the alarming lack of sleep he got after they saw Emma last night. They were both still clueless as to what exactly happened. Hook gave them a very rough explanation that made little-to-no sense and then just vanished after they split up, announcing that he would be looking for Zelena elsewhere.

“David you should go home,” Snow says softly, reaching out to clasp his hand in her own, providing him with encouragement.

“No, Neal needs his mother right now. I’ll stay with the search party,” he replies, causing her to roll her eyes at his stubbornness.

“David,” she says a little sterner. “Go home. Get some rest, you need it. I’ll be there later. Besides, Henry hardly qualifies as a proper babysitter.”

David looks into his wife’s green eyes, marveling at her beauty and ability to take charge of a situation when she notices that something is wrong. He wants to keep her out of harm’s way and send her home, but he knows she can hold her own in a battle – especially when there are three other capable fighters with her. He places a light kiss on her warm cheek and nods.

“I’ll be at home then. Call me if Zelena shows up,” he submits a few moments later.

“I will,” she says, giving him a quick peck on the lips. “Love you.”

“Love you too,” he smiles and makes his way off of the property and toward his truck.

* * *

 

“Grandma, it’s Henry. Something really weird happened and I need you to call me back as soon as you can. Thanks!” Henry speaks into his phone, intriguing Emma.

“That’s so cool! Your grandma can hear you when you talk into that little box?” She asks, her eyes lighting up in astonishment.

“Uh, yeah,” the teen replies, eyeing his mother strangely.

“What’s wrong?” Emma tilts her head, and he can’t tell if she really wants to know or if she’s just being polite.

“It’s just that…” he trails off and looks up at her, trying to detect any semblance of her old self, anything that might indicate she’s still _Emma_. Nothing. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Okay,” the subject is immediately dropped and Emma looks up at the sidewalk, watching the occasional cars pass by and waving at the drivers. One man looks familiar, but she can’t place where she’s seen him before. She smiles brightly to show him that she’s trying to be friendly and waves her arm up in the air so he can see her.

The man slams on the brakes, a loud screeching noise filling the air, and comes to a sudden halt behind the pair. He backs up the car until he is right next to Emma and Henry, rolling down the window frantically.

“Hi, Grandpa,” Henry says sheepishly. “I know this may look a bit weird, but I can explain it.”

“Emma, what are you doing with Henry? He’s supposed to be at home, watching Neal.” The man, _Henry’s grandpa_ , Emma notes, addresses her. She looks at him seriously for a few seconds before taking a step toward him.

“Hey, wait a minute,” she says quietly, almost to herself. “You were the man I saw last night. _You’re_ Henry’s grandpa?”

He is immediately on guard and narrows his eyes. “Why are you talking like that?”

Henry steps between the truck and his mother, facing the man Emma still doesn’t know. The pieces are so close to fitting together in her mind, but they’re just not quite in the right places.

“Something weird happened to her. I don’t know how to fix her, so I’m taking her to your apartment,” Henry says, hoping to sound quiet but Emma hears every word. She figures it’s best to pretend she didn’t hear him, though.

“What do you mean by ‘something weird’?” The man asks, looking at Emma again, his expression softening a bit.

“She doesn’t remember me or anyone else.” Henry pauses briefly. “Except Hook, but I can’t figure out why.”

David raises his eyebrows and looks at Emma, cautious to believe his grandson’s words. She looks out of place, and not just because she’s the Dark One. They’ve only been in Storybrooke for a few weeks since Camelot, yet everyone has already grown frighteningly accustomed to Emma’s villainous wardrobe change, complete with a different hairstyle and paler skin.

But now everything about her looks _wrong_. David looks her over once more, taking note of her baggy comfort clothes that he hasn’t seen her wear since Christmas when she insisted to wear her pajamas all day because she finally got a day off from Savior and sheriff duty. Her hair is still the color of the sky on a frosty day, but rather than being confined to the harsh braided bun that once wound around itself on the back of her head, it hangs loose and wavy as it sways slightly in the chilly wind. She looks like a completely different person, but she can still be fooling them to gain their trust just so she can betray it later.

The prince hates thinking about his daughter like that, as some sort of maniacal villain who is plotting to destroy their lives. But, as much as he hates to admit it, she’s already declared to everyone that that’s _exactly_ who she is now.

He shudders at the memory and looks back at Emma, recognition toward him mostly absent in her eyes. It unnerves him greatly and he almost doesn’t want to know why she’s looking at him that way. But there’s also something else in her eyes, something he can’t quite place. All he knows is that he has never seen it before, and it is in no way malicious or taunting.

Suddenly, one conclusion consumes his mind. _I can trust her_. He somehow knows that she has no intention of hurting him or Henry. It doesn’t seem like a logical possibility anymore that she’s planning any ill-will toward them, so he turns off the truck and motions for the two to enter it.

“Come on, I’ll bring you guys home. Henry, you can sit in the front, I need to talk to you about some… recent developments,” David says, trying to sound inconspicuous. But one glance at the look Emma gives him tells him that she knows he wants to talk about her. Thankfully, she just chooses to ignore their conversation so they can speak in peace.

Henry climbs into the front seat and turns around toward the back to help Emma buckle herself into the back seat, but he notices that she’s already strapped herself in and is prepared to get going.

_Must be some sort of muscle memory_ , Henry thinks to himself, smiling at the fact that at least _some_ of his mom still exists in a way.

“Okay, so catch me up to speed,” David says quietly once they are driving on the open road toward their apartment. “What happened to Emma and how did you find out about it?”

“She lost her memories. _All_ of them. I told you earlier that she only remembers Hook for some reason. Maybe she took her own memories?” Henry looks up at his grandfather, not sure if he wants his theory to be right or wrong.

“Do you really think she would do that, though?” David counteracts. “Why would she go through the trouble of casting a curse, reuniting Excalibur, and taunting us endlessly, just to erase all of her own memories of us?”

“I can hear you,” Emma says quietly from the back seat, causing the two guys to look back at her in alarm, both somehow having forgotten she’s been there within the span of only a few minutes. “You think I did this to myself? _I’m_ the reason I don’t know who anyone is?” Her voice trembles slightly and she feels tears brimming at the bottoms of her eyes, ready to spill over at any given moment.

“No, no, we don’t think that,” David reassures her in a calm, gentle voice. It reminds her of that woman he was with at the house last night. “We think someone else took away your memories. Right, Henry?”

Henry nods quickly, wanting nothing more than for his mother to calm down from her slight hysteria. “Yeah, I think a villain did it to you. I know you wouldn’t ever want to forget your family.”

Emma wipes her eyes with the back of her sleeve and gives her son a soft smile as they travel further down the street.

* * *

 

David sits on the sofa next to Henry, still absorbing the new information regarding Emma. His eyes flick up to her when she begins humming a quiet tune, no specific song in her mind. He looks back at his grandson, who also seems to be studying the Dark One.

They have been home for a few minutes now. When they walked in the door, Granny was putting Neal in his crib. Henry must have asked her to come over so he could go to Emma’s house earlier without having to worry about Neal being left alone. Granny was understandably frustrated with David when he refused to explain Emma’s reason for being here. Eventually, he convinced the old woman to return to her diner and keep quiet about seeing Emma, at least for now.

“So, you’re my dad?” Emma asks after her humming dies down. “Why aren’t you old or something? You look like you’re my age.” She stops and stares at the wall for a moment. “Wait how old _am_ I?”

“Thirty-one,” Henry replies, remembering how she holed herself up in her house just a few weeks ago and spoke to no one for the entire day, assuming no one would dare visit her on her birthday while she’s the Dark One. But he still brought her a gift and a cupcake and left them on the front porch for her. She must have accepted them because he went back to her house an hour later and they were gone.

Emma nods and smiles softly, pulling the marker and notepad out of her pocket again. She opens it and writes something down on one of the small pages. This captures her father’s attention.

“What’s that?” David asks abruptly. “What are you writing?”

“Oh, it’s just some notes I’ve been taking,” she replies harmlessly. “Here, you can read them if you want to.”

She holds the notepad out to him and he flips through the pages, reading the simple words in the delicate handwriting.

_Emma Swan_

He flips the page.

_I have a house_

He looks through the rest of the notepad for anything less than innocent.

_Henry – my son – 13_

_Killian_

_I am 31_

The rest of the pages are blank, so he hands the book back to his daughter. She tucks it back into her pocket and leans back on the chair.

“How exactly do you know who Hook is?” David inquires.

She blinks up at him in confusion. “What’s – oh, you mean Killian!”

“She never told me, but I think he’s the one who told her what her name is,” Henry sighs.

Emma’s eyes light up and a joyful smile spreads across her face. “I like Killian! He’s my friend.” She folds her hands in her lap and leans forward as if she’s sharing a secret. “I think he likes me too.”

“Yes, okay, but how do you know who he is?” David presses again, almost desperate to know the answer she has yet to share.

The Dark One shrugs nonchalantly. “I’ve known him for as long as I can remember. Literally.” She frowns and tightens her fingers around each other, her knuckles turning whiter than usual. “Speaking of which, do you two know how I’m supposed to remember who I am?”

They have explained to Emma how removing memories works, but have yet to contemplate who would do this to her. It’s probably a new villain who is trying to eliminate the competition, which is very unsettling in this case. There is also the problem of Emma not understanding the intensity of this situation and acting like all of this is as normal as going to the grocery store. She seems much more interested in exploring and learning new things than she is in returning her memories.

“Well first we need to find out who took your memories in the first place,” Henry informs her, then adds onto his answer quickly, already predicting her next question. “And we’re not sure how to do that yet.” He turns to David, addressing him now. “We could always ask Mo— uh, _Regina_ if she has any way to find whoever did this to Mom.”

“Yeah, we could. She’s looking for Zelena right now with Snow, Robin, and Hook.”

Emma smiles subtly at hearing Killian’s nickname, internally chuckling at how fitting it is considering one of his hands is replaced with a hook. However, now that she’s thinking about it, it seems a bit peculiar that he is missing his hand in the first place.

“Where did Killian’s hand go?” Emma asks, realizing that she interrupted their conversation. Apparently, she just tuned them out because she had no idea they were talking before she spoke.

“What was that?” David turns to her, abandoning what he and Henry were discussing. “His hand?”

“Yeah, why is it gone?”

“Oh, someone cut it off,” Henry answers nonchalantly. “It was a long time ago, though, so he’s okay now.”

“Who cut it off?”

“Gold.”

Emma frowns, thinking of the metal rather than the person. _How can gold hurt someone? How does that work?_ Before she voices her thoughts, David speaks up quickly.

“Gold is the name of the person who cut off Hook’s hand.”

Oh, that makes more sense, she decides, glad to have a rational explanation. But then another thought occurs to her.

“Why?”

Both guys pause and try to figure out a simple way to explain the much too complex story to her.

“Because Gold wasn’t a very good person at the time,” David settles on the shortest answer he can muster, trying to avoid any topics that may change Emma’s opinion on her boyfriend, who she doesn’t remember she’s in love with.

“Oh,” she says. “Am I a good person?”

“Uh, let’s just focus on getting your memories back for now, okay?” her father changes the topic nervously, trying to avoid telling her anything about herself that he knows she won’t like.

Emma sighs and leans her head forward, her hair falling in her face and covering her features. She knows what this abrupt subject change means. She must not be a good person at all. No, she must be a terrible person. They talked about villains earlier, maybe she is one of those. A chill runs up her spine when she thinks of the possibility of her being evil. It seems wrong and she doesn’t care for the idea being in her head. She wraps her arms around herself, suddenly feeling empty without Killian to console her.

She stands from the chair and makes her way toward the kitchen, opening the cupboard and pulling out a glass to fill with water. Halfway through her movements, she realizes that she knew exactly where to get the cup without being told anything about their location. She looks around at the unfamiliar apartment, yet a cold feeling settles within her.

_I’ve been here before_ , she thinks. _It’s the only explanation. I know where everything is. What was it Henry said earlier? Something about my body remembering what my mind doesn’t…_

The young woman shuts her eyes tightly and lets out a shaky breath, her mind reeling from her sudden realizations. She leans back and grabs onto the edge of the counter to steady herself, forcing her breathing to go back to normal. She looks up at Henry and her dad, who are now talking to each other again, oblivious to her internal struggle.

After she settles down, she begins walking back to her family, but a small cooing noise catches her attention and she turns toward another room to her right. Curiosity gets the better of her and she follows the noise until she is looking down at a small baby in a crib. The baby looks to be a few months old and is smiling up at her, gurgling happily and reaching out stubby arms to meet her.

Emma smiles affectionately and reaches into the crib, picking up the baby easily and cradling him in her arms. A baby blanket rests on the bottom of the crib with the name “Neal” printed along the hem. She carefully holds the baby in one arm and grabs the blanket with the other, seamlessly swaddling the baby in only a minute or two.

“Hello there,” she says, gently bouncing the baby up and down in her arms. “I’m Emma. I’m guessing your name is Neal?”

Rather than responding, which he can’t do because he’s just a baby, Neal grabs a fistful of Emma’s hair and tugs unceremoniously on it. Her head snaps toward him easily, partially because she wasn’t expecting such a rough welcome from the small child. His chubby fingers get tangled in her hair and she pulls her head back from him, gathering her hair from his grip and pulling it behind her to rest against her back.

“You have some strong little fingers there, buddy,” she jokes, but the slight pain from his innocent attack doesn’t go away quickly. “Come on, let’s go see the guys.”

Emma enters the living room, carrying Neal, and sits down on the chair she was at before. David immediately stands up and moves closer to her.

“Emma, that isn’t your child,” he says, reaching out his arms to take Neal. “You only have Henry.”

“I know,” she whispers, smiling and rocking the baby in her arms. “I just wanted to hold him. He was making noises and I didn’t want him to cry. Is his name Neal?”

David nods and kneels next to Emma. “Yes, and he’s your brother. Can I hold him now?”

“Yeah, here,” she hands her brother to her father and pulls the notepad out from her hoodie pocket again, uncapping the red marker and flipping to a new page. She writes down her next entry of notes, a smile playing at the corners of her lips.

_Neal – my brother_


	6. Chapter 6

It was too easy to break into the vault and find the spellbooks. Now Zelena stands in front of the bookshelf, not entirely sure which book to take. She sighs and waves her hand, conjuring a large bag to fill the books into. It doesn’t matter how many she steals from Regina, one of them is bound to have the spell she is looking for.

To her knowledge, however, no one has altered memories from a dreamcatcher before. But there’s no way it’s a brand new idea thought up by her. There are thousands of ways to change someone’s known memories, so there _must_ be a way to do it with a dreamcatcher!

She pulls a few books off of the shelf and tosses them into the bag, looking for the one that belongs to her mother specifically. But it’s not one of the ones she took, so she drags the rest of the spell books into the bag and decides that one of them must be the one she’s looking for. She closes and tightens the bag, looking back at the now-empty bookshelf, knowing that she has to cover up her breaking and entering so Regina doesn’t get suspicious.

She quickly puts a glamour spell over it so it appears to be untouched, nodding her head in approval and walking back toward the entrance. The witch lifts the portable baby cradle and rocks it slowly on her way up the staircase. She seals the vault again and reinstates Regina’s earlier protection spell. When the queen comes here next, she’ll be none the wiser about what recently happened here.

“Come on, Kelly,” Zelena smiles at her daughter’s new name and starts down the sidewalk. “Soon you’ll have a new friend. Her name is Emma.”

* * *

 

On her way back home, Zelena spots the heroes entering her house and she curses internally. They must be looking for Kelly. She crouches near a bush and watches them as they go in one by one. Strangely enough, Hook is with them. Blasted pirate.

He must have tricked them into believing he’s still a hero so they’ll still help him look for Emma’s memories.

Then a thought occurs to her.

What if the heroes _don’t know_ about Emma’s memories missing? It would sure be interesting to see that unfold. The dreamcatcher is still on the dining room table, she realizes suddenly. She didn’t cover it or hide it! What will happen if they find it? Hopefully, they’ll just think it’s a decoration and leave it where it is.

But Hook is there, and surely he knows by now that Zelena stole the dreamcatcher containing Emma’s memories. _Oh bloody hell, now what?_ Zelena scowls and tries to reach out with her magic to feel the dreamcatcher. Maybe if she concentrates hard enough, she’ll be able to sense it and put a glamour spell over it. She only hopes that it isn’t too far away and that she’ll be able to hide it properly.

She feels it briefly, but then it vanishes. Someone must be holding it. She panics and feels for it again, and this time the connection is stronger. It’s being used! Now they’ll know she has Emma’s memories and they might think _she_ stole them!

Zelena frowns and waves her arm, teleporting herself and Kelly into the cellar next to her house, deciding to wait out the heroes’ visit. She can accept defeat for this round, but she now realizes how much she wants Emma to fight on her side as the Dark One. It will certainly give her an advantage that the heroes can only wish they had.

And now that she’s hell-bent on carrying out this plan, she _will_ prevail.

* * *

 

“Okay, here’s the spell,” Regina says as she pours the dark blue liquid on the front door of Zelena’s house, the protection spell instantly breaking the moment it makes contact with the rough wood. Regina tests the waters by trying to open the door, and it swings open easily.

It’s a fairly simple spell that she retrieved from the vault, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was a little off while she was there. Everything seemed to be in order, so she assumed that she was feeling jittery because they’ll be finding Robin’s baby soon, but she knows that is a poor excuse. The queen steps into the house, closely followed by the others. She turns around at the entryway, whispering to the group.

“Hook and Snow, you two can check the bedrooms and bathrooms for anything out of place. Robin and I will search the living room, kitchen, and dining room. Sound good?”

They all nod and go their separate ways. Robin follows his girlfriend into the living room, looking everywhere he can think of that might indicate that something doesn’t belong. Regina looks through a book of different swatches of greens, taking note of the checkmark of affirmation next to one of the colors. When they deem the living room thoroughly searched and clear of any nefarious items, they move on into the dining room.

Robin picks up a small dreamcatcher from the table, eyeing it curiously. “Regina,” he whispers, careful to be as quiet as possible in case Zelena is somehow lurking somewhere. “What’s this for?”

The woman in question turns toward the archer and takes the dreamcatcher from his hand and holds it up to her face. She channels her magic into it to see if there are any memories trapped inside. And she certainly sees something a bit odd.

The dreamcatcher shows her a young girl drawing a picture on a bed, using a book as the hard surface to rest the paper on. The girl looks familiar, but not enough that Regina would be able to identify her. The girl is clutching a blanket close to her, which also looks achingly familiar, and she seems to be creating the outline of a castle on the blank sheet. Someone yells from far away and the girl’s head shoots up, her eyes widening as she quickly grabs a thick book from under her pillow and shoves the drawing into it, before tucking the book back under the pillow.

Regina’s eyes narrow slightly in confusion as the memory fades and another one begins, this time with the same little girl, only this time she’s at a movie theatre. Whose memories are these? The queen is a little disturbed that someone would take away a little girl’s memories.

She clutches the dreamcatcher in her hands, stopping the flow of her magic to it, and motions for Robin to venture into the kitchen so they can continue their search for anything that could lead them to his daughter.

After a few minutes of dead-end after dead-end, Snow and Hook join them. Apparently, they found nothing either. Robin looks defeated again and Regina sighs at the lack of information in this house. She consoles Robin as they leave the house. On their way to Regina’s car, she remembers the dreamcatcher she found inside the house.

“Oh, I came across this,” she says as she holds up the memory holder, and Hook goes noticeably stiff. “They’re full of memories. I’m not sure whose yet, but by what I’ve seen, they belong to a little girl.”

“May I see that?” Hook asks, his hand twitching to grab onto the dreamcatcher.

“I’d better analyze it so I can try to find out who the memories belong to,” Regina counters. “I don’t recognize the little girl, but something about her is really familiar. Maybe we met her in Camelot and don’t remember?”

She quickly retracts that statement, remembering how the girl in the memories appeared to be in the Land Without Magic so it wouldn’t make sense for her to live in Camelot. “Or, I guess not. I should look through them again. I would hate for a child to be without their memories. I’ll take this back to my vault.”

Snow and Robin nod, agreeing with her without hesitation. Hook reluctantly gives her his silent approval after a few seconds, his hesitation not lost on Regina. But she chooses to file his strange behavior in her mind for later. She offers to drive everyone home since David took the truck earlier and the only car left on the property is hers.

Everyone climbs into the small car, not cramped, but not quite comfortable. While the women and Robin make small talk on the way back, Hook remains silent. He only speaks when the memories belonging to the mysterious little girl are brought up, offering his services to help Regina find her.

Regina thought the pirate would care more about destroying the Darkness that controls Emma rather than tracking down some random kid that none of them even know. After all, it’s all he’s been focused on ever since they returned to Storybrooke from Camelot. But it’s nice to see that he still somewhat cares about other people.

* * *

 

After dropping Robin off at home and leaving Hook at the docks to return to his ship, Regina heads towards Snow and David’s place. During the drive, Snow’s phone vibrates in her pocket and she fishes it out, answering the call and holding it up to her ear.

“This is Snow,” she speaks into the cellphone

“Snow? Oh, thank goodness you picked up,” the voice on the other line says, relief flooding his words.

“David?” Snow asks. “Is something wrong?”

“Emma’s here. You need to come home as soon as you can.”

His vague answer worries the woman and she looks toward Regina, silently mouthing for her to drive faster. “What is she doing there? What’s going on?”

David pauses a moment and she can hear quiet talking in the background of the call. She just barely hears David telling someone to ‘leave Neal in his crib’, which is slightly unsettling to her.

“It’s a little difficult to explain without you being here to see it for yourself,” her husband replies. “Will you be home soon?”

“Yes, I’m on my way there. I’m just a couple of minutes away. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, everything is—Emma, I said to leave him in the crib! Hold on, Snow.” She hears shuffling from the other line and a few whispered words, before hearing her daughter’s enthusiastic voice.

“Hello!” Emma chirps, and Snow can practically hear her smiling. “I’m Emma. Dad told me that—but I’m talking to her!”

“Emma, hand me the phone,” David says in the background, his voice slightly muffled, but Snow can still hear the warning it holds. “I’m not going to ask again.”

Emma huffs into the phone mic and Snow has to hold the device away from her ear for a moment from the loud noise it makes. “Fine,” Emma mutters and the awkward shuffling begins again, not lasting as long as before.

Snow sits in the seat, her mouth open in shock, not entirely sure what just happened. David begins talking, but she doesn’t let him get many words out, cutting him off quickly.

“I’m here now. I’ll be inside in a minute.”

She hangs up the cellphone and turns toward Regina, who sits next to her with a raised eyebrow. “What was that all about?” The queen asks, humored at the dumbfounded expression on her friend’s face.

“I-I’m not really sure. But I guess I’m about to find out.”

With that, Snow steps out of the car and walks up the sidewalk into her apartment building, walking up the staircase toward the place that all of the apparent chaos was taking place here barely five minutes ago. She turns the knob, not sure what to be prepared to see on the other side of the door.

* * *

 

David sighs as he leads Emma to the couch and sits her down, holding her shoulders firmly. She folds her arms across her chest and leans back against the cushions, pouting at the forced ‘time out’, as David called it.

“I won’t touch anything else, I promise,” Emma mumbles as Henry holds back his laughter from where he stands in the kitchen.

As scary as Emma losing her memories is, he can’t help that this new version of her does a lot of entertaining things, acting like a child most of the time.

“It’s only for twenty minutes,” David assures her. “Then you can get back up from the couch. But for now, you’re in time out.”

“What does that even mean?” Emma frowns, looking away as she complains about her punishment. All she did was take Neal out of his crib a few times because he was getting fussy and she wanted to help. Then when her dad took matters into his own hands and put Neal back to bed, Emma wanted to meet the person he was talking to through the phone. But he got even more upset about that and sent her to the couch for this ‘time out’ thing after he finished his conversation with the woman. Emma doesn’t understand why everyone acts so weird around her. Surely they aren’t like this all the time, right?

“It means you’re going to sit here in silence until…” David looks up at the clock on the wall and points to it, drawing Emma’s eyes to the ticking device, “Three, thirty-seven. Do you think you can do that?”

Emma nods her head, already adopting the ‘silence’ part of the time out, not wanting to add more time to her punishment if it even works that way. She’s assuming that it does. Or maybe all time outs are just twenty minutes long. She contemplates this for a moment until the front door opens and the woman she saw last night steps inside the living room.

Their eyes almost instantly catch each other and the woman at the door gives her an unsure smile. “David, what is Emma doing here?”

Emma wonders who this ‘David’ guy is and her eyes land on her father. It’s the only logical explanation for him to be David, after all the only other people in this house are Henry, Neal, and herself. She pulls out the notebook and writes a quick note on it.

_David – my dad_

_Time out – be quiet for 20 minutes_

She tucks the book and marker back into her pocket and waves at the woman watching her with tense eyes. The woman hesitantly waves back, not sure what to make of this situation just yet.

“Someone stole Emma’s memories,” David says, jumping straight to the point instead of skirting around the issue, and Snow’s eyes widen drastically as she briefly glances at her daughter in alarm before reverting her gaze back to her husband. “We don’t know who did it yet, but they took all of her memories. According to her, she didn’t even know her own name until Hook told her.”

His wife doesn’t miss a single beat. “ _Hook knows about this_?” Her eyebrows pull together in a tight frown and she looks over at her daughter, who still sits on the couch in complete silence, just observing the encounter. Henry comes into the room and sits on the chair next to the sofa, offering his mother a glass of juice, which she accepts gladly. “Why didn’t he tell us?! We were with him all day and he never said anything about Emma losing her memories!”

“I know, but maybe he was trying to protect us from knowing this until he could fix it,” David suggests, not knowing how close to the truth he is.

“Why didn’t he ask for help?” The woman bursts angrily, feeling slightly betrayed that the pirate knew this the entire time he was with them earlier, yet kept quiet about it for some infuriating reason. “He should know by now that we’d do anything to help!” She moves past David before he can defend Hook anymore and goes to sit next to her daughter, looking her in the eyes for any sort of recognition. “Hi, sweetie. It’s me, Mom.”

Emma gives the woman – _my mother_ , she tells herself – a blank look, feeling sorry for not knowing who she is.

“You don’t remember me, do you?”

The Dark One shakes her head, indicating that _no_ , she doesn’t remember her. A shadow passes over her mother’s face, a sad expression covering her features.

“Please talk to me, honey,” she please, grabbing her daughter’s hands and looking directly into her green eyes that match her own.

Emma looks up at the clock, not knowing if she’s allowed to speak yet.

_3:29_

No, it’s not time to talk yet. She shakes her head to indicate that she won’t be saying anything, at least not yet. Snow must misunderstand this because she looks down and frowns. “Why not? I’m your mother.”

Emma’s heart goes out to this woman, really it does, but David said that she’s in time out until three, thirty-seven, so it would be wrong of her to say anything before her twenty minute penalty ends. She looks up at David, but he doesn’t see her because his face is buried in his hand as he pinches his nose, obviously stressed out about something. So instead of asking him for permission to talk, she just shakes her head again.

“Emma,” her father says, his voice pained. “Just talk, you don’t have to worry about the time out anymore.” He regrets ever telling her to be quiet, he didn’t know she would follow the orders so seriously. “Sorry, Snow, that’s my fault. I told her she needed to stop talking for a while.”

His wife gives him a disapproving look before turning back to their daughter. “Emma, sweetie, look at me.”

Emma looks up at her mother at the sound of her name. She didn’t know that having parents would be like this. But maybe they’re just worried about her because she doesn’t remember who they are. In that case, their really odd behavior makes much more sense.

“How do you know Hook?” Snow presses, making Emma think about the question she keeps hearing from her family. Why are they all so interested in how she knows Killian?

“I don’t know,” Emma replies, shrugging. “I already told David that I’ve known him forever. Why does it matter?”

Snow considers her next question, not planning to answer the one Emma just asked. “How long is ‘forever’?”

“Ever since last night. I don’t remember anything before that.” She pauses, before asking her original question again. “Why does it matter?”

“It matters because it’ll help us find out who took your memories from you,” Henry inserts himself into the conversation expertly, making everyone turn toward him. “If he knows anything, then we need to know when you, er, _met_ him.”

“Oh,” Emma says, willing to offer more information now. “The very first thing I remember is opening my eyes and I saw Killian standing in front of me. He scared me at first because he kept saying weird things to me and he was holding a funny-looking sword . I couldn’t move at all and I don’t know why.” She pauses, remembering last night vividly, not having many other memories for it to get mixed up with. “But then I _could_ move. So I ran outside.”

“We saw you,” Snow whispers, tears gathering in her eyes as she internally berates herself for not doing anything last night to help her daughter. “We saw you and all we did was yell at you. I’m so sorry Emma.”

The white-haired woman just waves off the apology, not in any way insulted by the fact that her family didn’t help her in her obvious time of need. “It’s alright. Where was I?” She clicks her tongue and continues her story. “Okay, so I ran away from the house and sat down on a bench. I thought that I got away from him but then he—“

Emma looks at Henry. “Is it magic if someone appears out of nowhere with smoke all around them?”

Henry nods his head, not sure if he wants to hear where this story is going.

“So, Killian did that. I guess he _does_ have magic after all.” She doesn’t notice her family’s shocked faces around her, so she continues telling them the events of last night. “And he brought me back to that house. Why didn’t you guys move at all?”

“Uh, we were stuck like that. Something froze us so we couldn’t move.” David intentionally leaves out the fact that it was _Emma_ who did that to them in the first place.

“Was it the same thing that made me stop moving?” Emma cocks her head to the side in the way that she seems to be so fond of doing.

“Maybe,” David replies tersely, not wanting to reveal anything that could make Emma hate herself. “Why don’t you finish your story?”

“Okay! So we went inside and I went to bed. Wait, I’m forgetting something.” _More like ‘forgetting_ everything’. “Oh, Killian was looking for something. And he locked the door so you couldn’t get inside. _Then_ I went to bed. But I couldn’t sleep, so I looked around the house and explored all of the rooms. The basement is creepy, though. I don’t really like it down there. But then Killian and I made a deal and…” She purses her lips, trying to recall the night better. “Then he left and I went back to bed. Oh! And then it was morning and I met Henry!”

Emma smiles at her son, finally noticing his befuddled expression. Her parents have similar looks on their faces too.

She isn’t sure what to make of their reactions to her story, so she presses herself further back on the couch, putting as much distance between them and herself as she can in her current position. “What’s wrong?”

“Hook has magic?” Henry asks, once again almost not wanting to hear the answer.

“Yeah,” Emma says, the word coming out as a question without her meaning for it to. “Is that bad?”

Snow steps into the kitchen and pulls out her phone, dialing a number and speaking quietly into the small device.

“Don’t worry, I called someone who can help,” Snow announces upon returning to her family.

* * *

 

Regina knocks on the door and is soon let into the Charmings’ loft. She spots Emma on the couch, still looking like the Dark One, but also looking like a woman who hasn’t done her laundry in a few days and has to resort to oversized sweatpants and hoodie jackets. She turns her questioning gaze to Snow and David before returning her eyes to Emma.

“Hi, you must be Regina,” The woman on the sofa greets her happily. “I’m Emma.”

Regina looks at the two heroes who both motion toward Emma, but she can’t quite tell what they’re trying to communicate to her. She looks back at Emma, who apparently doesn’t know who she is anymore. That doesn’t seem right though. How would Emma forget who she is unless someone were to—

Regina buries her face in her hands as the pieces fall into place. She groans quietly from behind her hands.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”


	7. Chapter 7

Killian walks to Emma’s house from the docks, intent on making sure she’s still safely locked away from prying eyes. Upon entering the house, he first notices the abandoned puzzle laying on the floor, thinking that it’s a bit out of place. But maybe Emma was going to use it and got distracted by something more interesting. That seems about right.

He looks around the room for Emma, but she’s nowhere downstairs, and the house is eerily quiet. He picks up the puzzle and places it on the dining room table. A small slip of paper with red ink on it catches his eyes and he holds it up to his face so he can read what it says.

_I’m with Henry, we went to my parents’ house. I’ll be back soon.  
Emma_

The newly turned Dark One clenches his fist around the little message Emma left for him and his blood boils. Henry _knew_ he was supposed to stay home and keep away from Emma while the rest of the heroes searched for Zelena! He _knew_ he wasn’t supposed to visit his mother, yet he did it anyway!

Killian isn’t angry with Henry; that would be pointless. But he is with himself for letting all of this get so out of hand. He crumples the paper in his hand and tosses it back onto the table.

Now Henry knows about Emma’s memory loss. How can he not by now? And he’s no doubt already told her parents everything. Killian rests his elbows on the table and covers his face with his hand. If he’s lucky, Emma hasn’t said anything about knowing him yet. But he’s sure she already has, especially since he’s the only other person she knows right now.

At least Emma can’t tell them that he stole her memories in the first place because she doesn’t even know that. There is the problem of him being a part of her first memory, however. If she says anything about that, her family will get suspicious and come looking for him. He sighs and paces the length of the room, trying to come up with a way to fix this new disaster.

He can just steal the dreamcatcher from Regina and return Emma’s memories himself. But the more he thinks about it, the more he realizes that it would never work out in his favor.

Emma’s parents have an unbelievably strong sense of togetherness and won’t let her out of their sight at all until they figure out where her memories went. It definitely seems like the kind of thing they’d do, so there’s little to no chance he’ll get any alone time with Emma while she can’t remember anything from her life.

He still shudders at the reminder of what he’s done to the love of his life, but he has to remember to keep himself in check. If he wants to help Emma, then he can’t keep getting distracted by his unbearable guilt.

No matter how mad at himself he is right now.

He needs to focus on the task at hand, which is restoring Emma’s memories as soon as he possibly can. But his experiences with using magic have proven to be disastrous on occasion. He groans internally, hating the conclusion he’s come to.

The more he thinks about how to fix this, the more he realizes he only has one solid option left. He hangs his head despondently and takes one last look at the letter Emma left for him, his decision already made.

He has no choice now. It’s time to tell Emma’s family the truth.

* * *

 

“I can’t believe this,” Regina says from her spot on the couch. Henry took Emma upstairs to play a board game soon after the queen arrived at the loft. She crosses her legs and holds back a chuckle, covering her colored lips with the back of her hand.

“Regina?” Snow asks, confused by the older woman’s reaction to the newest predicament.

“I just cannot believe our luck!” Regina stands up and rolls her shoulders, standing up straighter than seemingly possible as she walks toward the kitchen to grab her purse. She digs through it for a moment before pulling out the dreamcatcher that they found in Zelena’s house earlier. “Zelena had Emma’s memories!”

Snow and David stand up suddenly and quickly make their way to the kitchen.

“Are you sure?” David asks, reaching out to grab the dreamcatcher. The brunette holds it tightly, not willing to let it go, but David is still able to feel the well-constructed edges of it. He smiles lightly at the thought of his daughter getting her memories back so soon.

“Yes, I’m quite sure. Here, look,” she channels her magic into the dreamcatcher and the center lights up, playing Emma’s more recent memories before she lost them all. After getting a good enough look through some of the moments trapped inside the dreamcatcher, Regina sets it delicately on the countertop. “And the best part is she’ll never remember being the Dark One.”

The parents become still at this. Snow speaks up first. “What do you mean by that?”

“You aren’t actually suggesting that we _never_ give Emma’s memories back to her?” David sounds appalled by the words that come out of his mouth. “Regina, we can’t do that to her! She’s our daughter!”

“Oh, relax. I’ll return her memories, but I think the ones with her being the Dark One should stay forgotten. It’ll certainly take care of all of this messy business.”

“No.” Snow’s voice is stern, despite her wavering emotions. “Emma deserves to know everything. We can’t keep the truth from her.”

Regina scoffs and waves her arms around herself. “ _Are you kidding me?!_ She kept the truth from us! She stole our memories first! Maybe this only happened to her because someone wanted her to know what it’s like!”

“You can’t be serious! Emma needs us to be there for her now more than ever and if we just—“

“Stop thinking like parents and start thinking like heroes!” Regina snaps. “You are so convinced that a villain took away her memories, but guess what! She _is_ a villain! For all we know, a good person could have wiped her memories to protect the rest of us from whatever she was planning!”

Before either of Emma’s parents can retaliate, they hear a loud gasp from Emma’s old bedroom. The three turn to see Emma leaning against the railing, watching them with tears in her eyes. Henry stands behind her quietly, pulling on her hoodie to drag her back to whatever game they’ve been playing. But his silent coaxing is doing nothing to rouse her from her bout of shock. Her eyes are blown wide and focused solely on her parents and Regina, who are now realizing their mistake of being so loud without thinking of Emma’s thirst for answers. And now they’ve just inadvertently answered one they were trying to avoid.

In the other bedroom, Neal starts wailing, breaking the spell that has everyone staring at one another. Snow rushes out of the kitchen, quite relieved to have a distraction from the stare-off happening just a few feet away from her.

Emma slowly makes her way down the staircase, Henry following behind her with a sheepish look on his face. The young woman stands awkwardly between the other adults and the front door, both an equal distance from her. She wipes the tears from her eyes, leaving small wet spots on the baggy sleeve of her hoodie.

“I’m evil?” Emma’s voice shakes nervously as she twirls her hair roughly with her fingers, anxiety seeping into her mind.

“No, Emma, we never said…” David steps toward his daughter and reaches out toward her, trying to comfort her as much as he can, but she steps away briskly, distancing herself further from him. “You’re not evil.”

“But you said I’m a villain,” Emma raises her voice slightly, immediately regretting doing so. “Villains are evil.” She looks up at Regina in confusion. “Aren’t they?”

The queen in question looks around helplessly, wishing she’d never said anything about where Emma currently stands in the battle between Light and Dark, but there is no one to help bail her out of this hole she dug herself into.

“I guess they _could_ be, uh,” Regina stops and gives Emma a guilty smile, trying to lighten the mood. “But you’re not evil.”

“Then how come you—“

Emma’s words are cut off by the front door swinging open to reveal Killian as he stands in the hallway, an embarrassed but determined look on his face. He holds in his hand the strange sword from last night, with his name and her name printed on the side of it. The Dark Ones look at each other for a moment, their eyes meeting as they both feel different emotions at seeing each other.

Emma is relieved to see her friend here, hoping that maybe he’ll bring her back to the house and she’ll be away from all of this confusion and chaos. She gives him a small smile, not able to hide her joy at seeing him again so soon.

Killian, on the other hand, feels immense guilt the moment he spots Emma, knowing that she is most definitely lost and probably a little scared right now. He also sees Regina, David, and Henry. Well _that_ can’t be good. He steps forward into the loft and lifts Excalibur so everyone can see the names on it.

Regina is the first one to react.

“What the hell is this, some sort of sick joke?”

“I’m afraid not,” Killian sighs. “It’s a long story. Back in Camelot, Emma turned me into a Dark One to save my life. I…”

He looks at Emma and she watches him intently, not having heard this story before and looking legitimately intrigued to learn more about her forgotten past. The pirate gulps and breathes in deeply, dreading the next part.

“I took her memories.”

At his confession, the room goes silent. Snow gasps from the other room and enters quickly, cradling Neal in her arms tenderly, trying not to jostle him while he sleeps. For a few moments, the room is silent, save for Emma’s shuddering breaths as she digests the new information.

_Killian did this._

It feels wrong to her. He is supposed to be her friend! He even told her that he’d never do anything to hurt her or cause her any strife.

Regina discreetly tucks the dreamcatcher back into her purse, moving slowly so Killian doesn’t notice what she’s doing.

“I promise I didn’t mean to. I was only trying to remove a single memory, but I accidentally took them all. It wasn’t my intention to—“

“You did _what_ to my daughter?!”

Snow’s voice rings throughout the loft and everyone turns toward her, a frown on her face as she cradles her infant son in her arms, rocking him gently despite the rage burning beneath her skin. She steps forward and stands between Emma and Killian, trying to provide some semblance of protection for the other woman.

“Emma, take Neal upstairs,” Snow says, looking over her shoulder at her daughter, keeping her voice quiet, though everyone in the room can hear her command.

“No,” Emma furrows her eyebrows and looks toward her father for any sort of help he might be willing to give her, but he only gives her a disapproving look at her rejection. “This is about me, I’m not going to just—“

Emma’s words are cut off as she suddenly disappears in a cloud of violet smoke, along with Neal and Henry. The concerned parents and the pirate turn to give Regina pointed looks.

“Oh don’t look at me like that,” the queen defends herself. “They’re fine.”

Snow rolls her eyes while David seems more interested in interrogating Hook for more details on his new confession. “Emma made you a Dark One and you decided to wipe her memories?” A confused frown finds its way onto David’s face as he watches Killian struggle for the right words.

“No, I didn’t mean to! It was a mistake! She turned me into a Dark One and I only wanted to take away _one_ memory. You must believe me.”

“How did Emma make you a Dark One? That hardly makes sense,” Regina scoffs. “There can only be one Dark One. Hence ‘Dark _One_ ’. Or do you think I was born yesterday?”

“Do you not see the names?!” Killian lifts Excalibur again so the inhabitants of the room can all see his name on the side of it, right next to Emma’s. “She tethered me to Excalibur to save my life!”

“Why did she need to save your life?” Snow crosses her arms and leans back, lifting her chin in the air in the way that Emma does from time to time.

“It’s a long story, but all you need to know is Emma is still a hero. She’s trying to destroy the Darkness. I didn’t mean to take all of her memories, but you have them now. We can give them back to her.”

Regina looks around the room in uncertainty, rubbing her wrist nervously. “Yeah, about that…” Her eyes dart across the trio in front of her. “I don’t think we should do that just yet.”

Snow and David look at her, dreading this possibility, while Killian’s mouth hangs open in slight shock. He definitely hadn’t expected any of them to suggest they leave Emma like she is, lost and without her memories. He clenches his jaw, feeling anger rise up within him.

“What do you mean by that, then? Are you seriously considering keeping Emma the way that she is right now?” Killian’s voice bursts through the awkward silence.

“The way she is?” David turns toward the Dark One and glares at him. “You mean the way _you_ made her?! As far as I’m concerned, all of this is your fault!”

“He’s right, you’re the reason she can’t remember anything in the first place,” Regina inputs her two cents.

“What did you want her to forget in the first place?” Snow asks Killian, her arms still folded in front of her torso, unsettlingly calm and composed as she observes the conversation and speaks. “You said something about only meaning to take away one memory. Which one?”

Killian’s face goes slightly red in embarrassment that he’s about to admit his original plan to Emma’s family, all because he doesn’t know how to use magic properly yet. After all, Emma had to take lessons from Regina for weeks before she got decent enough to hold her own in a battle whilst using magic. What made him think that he could just suddenly become a master magic-user? He certainly doesn’t know.

“The Darkness convinced me that it was a good idea at the time,” he starts out, wanting to justify his reasons before telling the full story. “I was going to bring back the previous Dark Ones, but now I’ve realized what a terrible idea that is.”

The other three adults in the room instinctively take a step back from him, none of them realizing they just did so. But Killian notices, assuming that they didn’t mean to distance themselves from him. Though he can’t really blame them. He’s a mess of a hero right now and he’s already pretty much destroyed his girlfriend’s life.

“Why were you going to do that? What would that have accomplished?” Regina asks, genuinely intrigued by the plan the Darkness is trying to carry out. If the Darkness wants this so badly, then it must have an important role to play if it ever happens.

“I’m not sure,” the Dark One shrugs. “I just know that I was going to do it, but then I messed up with the dreamcatcher and now Emma is… well, you know.”

“Why didn’t you tell us the moment it happened?” Snow asks, her motherly voice back with traces of concern in it. She reaches out to touch Killian’s arm, hoping to let him know that he’s not braving this alone, but he shies away from her hand.

“I know how protective you are over Emma, and I thought I could fix this by myself.” He pours his thoughts and worries out to them, hoping that they’ll understand his predicament in some way. He doesn’t enjoy telling them his problems and feelings, but right now it’s quite possibly the only thing that will convince them that he is on their side and not the side they’ve feared Emma’s on.

“That sounds like something she would do,” David sighs, a brief sense of nostalgia passing through him at the memories of how Emma always tries to fix things on her own before consulting anyone else on the matter.

“Aye, it does.”

Regina grabs her purse and pulls the strap over her shoulder, preparing herself to leave the apartment. “I know you all want Emma to remember everything, but I think we should just hold onto her memories for a little while longer.” Before anyone can object, she continues. “Think about it logically for a second. Emma is a Dark One, and we still don’t know what her full plan is.”

“I just told you that she wants to destroy the Darkness forever,” Killian interrupts impatiently, appalled at Regina for actually being against restoring Emma’s memories to her.

“Well after a fiasco like this, the Darkness is likely to demand revenge, and it’ll have no qualms about using Emma to get that revenge. All I’m saying is we should wait a while before giving Emma’s memories back to her. Personally, I think we should find a way to destroy the Darkness ourselves before we let her remember anything.”

“I hate to say it,” Snow starts, looking down at the floor. “But I agree with Regina. Emma knows she’s a villain now. If we destroy the Darkness before we restore her memories, then there will be no pressure for her to do anything wrong. There won’t be any looming threats over our heads that we won’t know how to handle.”

“Are you crazy?” Killian shouts. “You’re her family, you should be wanting to protect her more than anyone else, and you’re willing to just leave her like this for what could be months?”

“I’m with Hook on this one,” David says, suddenly feeling like he needs to defend himself. “Right now, we’re the only people Emma has to trust. We can’t ruin that by keeping the dreamcatcher away from her. Right now, Emma needs us more than ever, and we need to be there for her. We need to be people she can rely on.”

“We need to do what is best for _everyone_ ,” Regina snaps. “That means we have to protect the town from anything that threatens us. If Emma has to suffer for a little while longer while we destroy the Darkness, then so be it. Until then, I’ll be in charge of the dreamcatcher. Emma can keep going about her daily life, and she doesn’t have to know about any of this. At least not for now. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

Regina sidesteps Killian and walks toward the door, her purse slung over her shoulder with the dreamcatcher stored safely inside. Snow and David call out to her, but she’s out the door before they can stop her quick retreat out of the loft.

* * *

 

“Whoa, what just happened?” Emma asks as she appears in an unfamiliar room, surrounded by black and white furniture. She looks down and sees that she is now holding her baby brother while Henry stands next to her, looking more annoyed than confused.

“Mom didn’t want us to hear their conversation so she sent us away,” he states, irritation in his voice.

“But I’m right here. I didn’t do anything.”

Henry realizes his slip-up too late and looks up at his mother helplessly, wishing that he could turn back time, even if only a few seconds. “It’s a… a _really_ long story. But you’ll know it when you get your memories back.”

Emma shrugs and smiles, sitting down on the stiff sofa that she noticed upon appearing in this room. It’s not very comfortable to sit on, but she doesn’t much care about comfort. She only cares about what her parents must be talking about with Killian and Regina. But there is also that voice in the back of her mind that is nagging at her to find out more about this whole ‘villain’ thing that she apparently has a part in. She never suspected that she was a villain before losing her memories, but it would make more sense considering how everyone kept reacting to her questions about what kind of person she is, what she did before she lost her memories.

She shrinks into the couch, holding onto Neal closely, wishing she’d never overheard the conversation from earlier, though it was hard not to. Regina was yelling fairly loudly.

Emma looks up at Henry, who is leaving the room to do something, but she isn’t entirely sure what. He seems familiar with these strange surroundings, so she isn’t worried too much about him.

After rocking Neal into a light slumber, Emma sets him on the cushion next to her and pulls out her notepad and marker, deciding that now is as good a time as ever to write down another note for herself.

_I am a villain_


	8. Chapter 8

Zelena stands in the dining room, a frown marring her features as she stares at the spot the dreamcatcher used to be, Kelly slumbering peacefully in her arms. Of course those damn heroes took it. How could she expect any less of them? She could either get it back or just give it up and focus more on keeping her daughter hidden and safe.

_Although…_

Having the Dark One on her side is one thing, but since Emma is the Savior too, two threats toward her would be eliminated. And with that much extra magic on her side, there would be no way for the heroes to take Kelly away from her.

But by now, Regina must have already thought of a way to protect the dreamcatcher from Zelena. It’s quite a shame too, considering the witch found the very spell she was looking for earlier while she was hiding in the bushes near her house. If only she could somehow retrieve the dreamcatcher, get Emma alone, alter her memories, and transfer the changed memories into Emma’s mind. But that all seems fairly difficult, even for Zelena.

She steps out of the dining room and into the empty bedroom that she wants her daughter to have, waving her hand once so a baby crib appears, along with some other furniture and decorations for an infant and new mother.

After deeming the nursery suitable for Kelly, Zelena lays her down in the crib and sits on the rocking chair next to it, humming an old lullaby she learned from some of the Ozians. It soothes the baby, so she knows she must be doing something right for once today. She leans back against the wood of the chair and closes her eyes, exhausted from the events of these past few days. And to add to that, she hasn’t slept for about fifty or so hours.

She rubs her hands over her face and feels briefly for the protective barrier she reinforced after the heroes left, feeling it as strong as it can be. She’d put a blood magic spell over the house, but Regina could break it in an instant if she wanted to, so she doesn’t even bother.

After what feels like a few minutes of contemplation, Zelena looks outside to see that it’s become dark suddenly. It was only the early afternoon a few minutes ago. Wasn’t it? She must have spent more time in this chair than she thought. Kelly is still sleeping, and for that, she is immensely grateful. As much as she loves her little one, she gets scared every time she hears the crying coming from the infant. It makes her think that she’s done something wrong and that Kelly might be hurt.

Despite her only being a mother for a full day and a half, she is worried that she’ll never be the perfect parent to raise her daughter. But she’d sooner die than give Kelly over to the heroes.

This thought is strengthened when she thinks of how easy it would be to take care of Kelly and take over Storybrooke with Emma on her side. Emma can do some babysitting for her when it’s necessary, but she’s also magically capable enough to battle the heroes if she needs to.

Zelena stands up from the chair, suddenly feeling sore from sitting in the stiff rocking chair for an undetermined amount of time, and walks toward the door. She flicks off the light switch and travels down the hallway to her own room, changing into her pajamas – which she’s recently discovered are quite possibly the most comfortable clothes any realm has to offer – and climbing into bed. She turns off all of the lights still on in the house with a simple wave of her hand, snuggling into the pillows and mattress when she finishes.

Whether or not she manages to get Emma to join her side, Zelena’s future will have Kelly in it no matter what. The heroes can never take her daughter away from her, that’s for certain. This is her last conscious thought as her mind slowly drifts away into pleasant dreams.

* * *

 

She still can’t sleep.

Maybe she’s an insomniac and she just can’t get to sleep. Ever.

Emma shifts and turns in her bed. She’d gone back to that blue house earlier with Killian and her parents and now she’s fumbling around under the sheets, desperately trying to drift off into slumber. It doesn’t make much sense that she is still so energized despite being alarmingly sleep-deprived. She hears footsteps and quiet muffled voices coming from downstairs, but she can’t make out what anyone is saying.

They act as though she’s a child, and an incompetent one at that. She hates it. Hopefully, when she gets her memories back, everyone will treat her with respect. By the looks of it, she is the same age as both of her parents, and that is the most confusing thing she’s noticed yet.

She’s made sure to write down every new thing in the little note pad she got from the attic, but she’s sure it’ll all be for naught when she remembers everything. Speaking of which, she really hopes that happens soon because she’s starting to get impatient with all of this waiting. That’s one thing she’s figured out about herself that no one told her. She’s fairly impatient when it comes to certain things.

She hears footsteps come up the staircase and stop at her door. She quickly shuts her eyes and buries her face into her pillow, feigning sleep as the door creaks open and someone pokes their head into the room.

“I told you she’d be sleeping,” she hears her mother whisper, but it’s so quiet she can’t tell what emotion the other woman is conveying. “Now can we go back downstairs?”

“I thought Dark Ones didn’t _need_ sleep,” her father replies, a little louder, sounding slightly suspicious. She knows they’re onto her now.

“We don’t, mate,” Killian butts into the conversation. “But let’s just leave her be. She’s probably tired and she still needs her rest. I imagine we all do.”

“You’re right,” David says, backing away and closing the door. They say some indistinguishable words in the hallway that Emma can’t understand, then they make their way back downstairs.

Well, at least two of them do.

The door opens again and closes, soft footsteps trailing across the room toward the bed. A heavy weight presses into the mattress behind Emma and she tries to keep up her façade for as long as she can. She hears something land on the floor heavily, followed soon by the same noise as something else is dropped onto the carpet.

“You’re awake.”

He says it matter-of-factly, and Emma knows immediately that it’s Killian talking to her. She turns around and looks up at him. His jacket is gone and he wears a simple t-shirt with sweatpants. His hair is slightly mussed, almost as though he’s been running his fingers through it often. He looks so carefree in this moment, staring into her green eyes. She smiles and sits up, pulling the man next to her into a tight embrace. She doesn’t really know why she feels the need to hug him, she just does. He wraps his arms around her without hesitation, like he’s used to this sort of contact with her.

“I miss you,” Killian whispers into her hair, catching her a bit off guard. He misses her? But she’s right in front of him.

Emma pulls back and looks him in the eyes, tilting her head to the side slightly in her now-signature look of confusion. “But I’m right here.”

“That’s not what I meant, love.”

Then what _does_ he mean? She realizes with a start that he must mean he misses the woman she was before he took her memories from her. That’s a touchy subject that she hasn’t brought up. Everyone else seems to have forgiven him, so she assumes there must have been a very important reason behind his actions, or else he wouldn’t have done it in the first place.

Besides, she trusts Killian. If he said he took her memories for a good reason, she believes him. But she still refuses to bring it up in conversation for fear of ruining their relationship.

Wait a second…

Emma’s emerald eyes widen suddenly. Are they a couple? Is that why he’s been more torn up about this than anyone else? Is this why—

“Your thoughts are awfully loud, love,” Killian interrupts her train of thought. “Care to share what you’re thinking about?”

Emma contemplates backing out of the conversation and going to sleep – if she even can – but she blurts out her answer before she can stop herself.

“Are you and I together?”

The question catches him off guard, he admits to himself. Then again, Emma has always been bloody perceptive, so he’s not sure why he’s at all surprised that she figured out their shared past. He knows there’s no point in not telling her the truth, so that’s what he does.

“Aye, love,” he whispers quietly, realizing that if Emma doesn’t forgive him after this fiasco, they may very well _not_ be together anymore. A lump forms in his throat at the thought and he pulls her into another warm hug. “I just wish I’d never done this to you. I didn’t mean to, I swear. I’m so sorry.”

Emma doesn’t know if she should just accept his apology and go to bed, or push for more background on Killian and herself. She must take too long thinking about it because soon he pulls away from her and lies back on the bed, his head propped by his arms as he rests on the pillows. She remains in her spot, watching him make himself at home in her bed. A blush creeps up her cheeks suddenly when she realizes that maybe they always share a bed.

It would make sense. He said they’re together and she has a son, so maybe Killian is Henry’s father. He got really nervous about the topic of her husband earlier and even changed the conversation when Killian was mentioned a moment later. Maybe Killian and she never got married, yet had a child anyway. The concept of it all seems so wrong to her, but it is the only theory that is logical to her right now.

And it would explain all of that unbuilt baby furniture she found in that locked room down the hall during her exploration the last night. They must be having another baby soon.

Emma turns to the man next to her and leans down so she is right beside him. She throws her arm over his torso and pulls him toward her tighter than before. He looks at her, confusion masking his pleasant surprise.

“What are you doing?” Killian asks, nodding his head away from hers so he can see her face more clearly.

“Are we married?”

He smiles sadly, closing his eyes and relaxing into the mattress. “No. I don’t think you’re ready for that yet.”

“Why not?”

“Remember the deal we made. This is your last question, you know,” he reminds her, smirking, while he watches her with the brightest blue eyes she’s ever known to exist.

Emma looks down at her hands, which somehow found their way to rest on Killian’s chest. She can tell how chiseled it is through the thin material of his t-shirt. “Actually, I don’t want to ask that question,” she says, remembering that they did, in fact, make a deal regarding her question-asking limit. She takes a moment to think of a good use for her final question, smiling softly when she knows what to ask him.

* * *

 

Killian watches Emma chew on her lip, contemplating something in the cutest way. She smiles after a while and looks him directly in the eyes, her emerald orbs boring into his sapphire ones.

“Are we going to have a baby?”

If he’d been eating or drinking, he’d surely be choking right now. Out of all of the things she could have said, he certainly wasn’t expecting _that_. Sure, he loves the idea of having children with Emma one day, but life is too hectic and busy to be thinking of that now.

_How did she even think of something like that?_

“What makes you say that?” He tries to stay composed, almost afraid of what she’ll say in response.

She stands up from the bed and reaches her hand out toward him, which he reluctantly takes, before leading him out of the room and down the hallway. They’re next to the guest bedroom, and across from Henry’s bedroom, when she stops in front of a door. She takes a deep breath and waves her hand over it shakily, but nothing happens. He isn’t sure what she’s expecting to happen. She frowns at her hand and tries it again with her other hand, but it yields the same result.

“But this worked on the door downstairs,” she mutters to herself, and he knows what she means finally. “It just opened when I did that.”

“There’s an enchantment on it,” he explains, eyeing the leather cuff that still resides on her left wrist. He knows there isn’t much sense in keeping it on her, but there’s a chance she could damage herself or others with her now untamed, dark magic. “Anyone in your family can open it without touching it. You don’t need magic for it, you just need to be close enough to the door.”

“Oh.” She accepts that answer, smiling smugly at him when he realizes that she didn’t need to ask a question to get an answer. He hopes she doesn’t use that against him in the future. She reaches up and pulls something down from the door frame – a key.

It’s nothing special, just a simple old key that looks worn and scratched. She slips it into the lock and turns it, flinging the door open and stepping inside so Killian can follow her.

The room is full of nothing but boxes. The walls are painted a pale blue color and white curtains keep the world hidden on the other side of the windows. Emma sits down in front of a few boxes and points to the pictures on them, which show structures for baby furniture. There’s an older box in the corner labeled “TOYS”, and the closet is open to reveal a few folded blankets and pajamas meant for an infant.

Killian takes a step back and swallows hard, looking down at Emma. She can’t be—

No. She would tell him, wouldn’t she? She didn’t say anything in Camelot, maybe she wants to keep it a secret until they destroy the Darkness. Why else would she have all of these still boxed up and in a _locked_ room?

“Emma, perhaps we should go back to bed,” he says, his voice slightly unsteady. “We don’t want to wake your parents.”

“They’re still here?” She stands up and walks toward him, looking around the hallway as if her parents will magically appear out of thin air suddenly. “Where are they?”

“Downstairs. They’re sleeping in the living room tonight.”

She smiles brightly and shuts the door, locking it and placing the key back in its hiding spot. “They don’t have to sleep down there, there’s another bed up here that they can sleep in!”

She pulls his arm while she skips down the staircase noisily until they reach the living room, where David is laying on the floor, a small blanket over his legs and a throw pillow under his head. Snow is on the small sofa, her legs bent at an awkward angle so they don’t go past the armrest. Neither of them looks comfortable at all.

“Mom, Dad!” Emma calls out loudly, startling the couple from their slumber. “Wake up, you can sleep in a real bed. Follow me!”

Killian has no idea where Emma suddenly got all of her energy, because just a few minutes ago she was dead silent and on the floor of what he can only guess is a nursery, lethargically running her fingers over the lines that made up the baby crib in the picture on one of the boxes.

Snow groggily sits up while David leaps to his feet, prepared for an attack. He grabs at his beltline for a sword, but there’s nothing there, so he settles for his fists. He looks around with wide eyes, searching for the intruder. “What’s going on?” His voice wavers, riddled with exhaustion.

“It seems Emma has a guest room for you two to stay in,” Killian answers, inwardly chuckling at how impulsive his girlfriend is now, showing little to no restraint when it comes to spur-of-the-moment ideas. Then he reminds himself why she’s acting like that and it becomes less funny. He turns toward the staircase when Emma runs back down to the living room, waving her arms to motion toward the upstairs level.

“Come on,” the Savior says, “you have to see your room!”

“We’re coming, sweetie,” Snow yawns, standing up from the couch slowly, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she makes her way toward her daughter, following her up the staircase, David and Killian in tow.

When they reach the room, Emma throws the door open and bounds inside excitedly, waiting for her parents to join her. She points at the large bed that looks like anyone could sink into and disappear forever, smiling at Snow and David.

“That bed is yours,” she says, matter-of-factly. “So you can sleep there, and Killian and I will sleep in our room.”

That catches David’s attention.

“You’re sleeping in Emma’s room?” He asks the pirate, disapproval in his voice.

“Well we don’t need sleep, remember?” Killian responds. “But yes, I’ll be with her tonight.”

“Why?” Snow asks, only partially invested in the conversation.

“Are we not supposed to?” Emma asks. She is genuinely curious to know if she’s allowed to spend the night with him.

“No, it’s not that, it’s just that, uh…” David starts but is quickly cut off.

“We won’t do anything if it makes you feel better,” Killian says. “But it’s not like we were going to anyway.”

“But—“

“Charming, let’s just go to bed.” Snow is already leaning against the pillows and ready to drift into sleep.

“What aren’t we going to do?” Emma asks, looking between her parents and Killian.

The pirate has a momentary lapse in his thoughts, having no idea how to respond to her question. He looks to the royals, hoping they’ll know what to say, but they’re just as lost as he is. Snow sits up straight suddenly and levels her daughter with a serious look. She clears her throat and waves the two men out of the room, a silent command they both follow with little hesitation.

* * *

 

Snow pats the mattress beside her when David and Killian leave the room, and Emma sits down on the soft bed.

“You’ll know what we were going to talk about when you have your memories back, Emma,” the mother says to her daughter.

“But I want to know now,” Emma pouts.

There is a moment of silence. A pause of something unsettling in the air. It doesn’t feel dangerous, but rather uncomfortable.

“Do you _really_ want to know?” Snow asks, to which Emma nods her head. The older woman sighs and looks toward the door, making sure it’s all the way shut. “This will be a little awkward, so if you want me to stop talking, just let me know.”

Emma looks confused but nods her head anyway, glad that she has a say in how much she hears.

Snow shifts awkwardly before starting out.

“You see, Emma, when a man and a woman love each other very much…”


	9. Chapter 9

Killian lays in bed next to Emma, staring up at the ceiling. There’s no real reason for him to feign sleep, he knows he’ll never find it. Even though the woman next to him is “snoring”, he knows she’s just trying to keep him from talking to her.

She’s been doing all she can to ignore him since she had that long talk with her mother earlier. He still doesn’t know what they talked about, just that Emma was blushing afterward and has been avoiding eye contact with everyone since then. When she left the guest room, she looked almost startled to see Killian and her father in the hallway and hid her face while mumbling all sorts of apologies.

It was adorable.

The pirate looks over at his girlfriend and smiles softly, though her back is turned toward him, reaching his hand out to run his fingers through her hair.

Though he doesn’t think much of the action, Emma stiffens and he can hear her hold her breath in.

“Why are you touching me?” Emma asks curiously, not sounding upset or worried at all.

Killian pulls his hand away and retreats into himself as Emma turns around on the bed, her eyes landing on his shoulder instead of his blue eyes.

“No reason, I suppose,” he replies, staring directly into her green irises, hoping she’ll shift her gaze toward his face, but she makes no indication that she will.

“Is this how it starts?” Her cheeks turn pink, though it’s difficult to tell in the darkness, and she fiddles with the hem of her oversized t-shirt.

Her question confuses him, so he takes her chin in his fingers and lifts her head so their faces are barely two inches apart. Emma’s attention travels from his lips to his eyes and back again.

He is about to ask her what she’s talking about but her mouth is on his in an instant, catching him off guard for a moment. He wasn’t expecting a kiss from her, especially with how up and down this day has been and how distant she became within the last hour.

Her soft lips draw his thoughts back to her and how she’s deepening the kiss, pressing her hand onto his clothed chest. For a moment he forgets that she doesn’t remember him. He forgets that she has no idea what she’s doing, that she isn’t the Emma he loves. He allows himself to be lost in the kiss as he closes his eyes and holds the woman closer to him.

At some point Emma manages to roll him onto his back and climb on top of him, straddling his lap. Her lips are still hot against his, her tongue now being shoved into his mouth. This is when he is jolted back to reality at the realization that what he’s letting happen is wrong, no matter how good it feels.

“Love, wait,” Killian says, breaking the kiss and pulling his head away from her, leaving her above him with puckered lips. “We shouldn’t be doing this.”

Emma tilts her head and frowns, leaning back and looking down at her lap. “But isn’t this what married people do?”

Killian is sure his eyes will pop out of his head if they get any wider. What would give her the impression that they’re _married_? When did anyone even say that they were together?

They _do_ share a bedroom, including a bed. He hasn’t exactly been keeping his feelings toward her a secret. Oh, yes, and there’s the bit about them possibly having a child together in the near future.

The pirate swallows when he thinks about it. Why would Emma keep this a secret from him? The only time they ever slept together was during those peaceful few weeks after Ingrid was defeated. That was a couple of months ago, and Emma certainly doesn’t look pregnant now. Though, she could have used a glamour spell to hide a growing belly, making her look as normal as ever.

But if she’s really pregnant, why has she kept it a secret from him? It’s not like she can tell him the truth now, but she had plenty of opportunities to say something about it before he erased her memories.

His head feels fuzzy and he just wishes he could sleep. His eyes drift up to Emma, who is looking at him expectantly. Oh, right, she asked him a question. He sits up and scoots away from her, a confused and slightly hurt look passing across her face.

“Indeed, it is,” he starts, knowing he’s about to disappoint her, but there’s no other way around this topic. “But we’re not married.”

Emma’s face falls immediately, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. Apparently, she wasn’t expecting that sort of answer from him. Her voice is quiet, yet steady when she speaks again.

“Why not? We already have a child, and if we have another I think we should be married for it.”

If he had been drinking, he would be spitting out water right now. Killian stares at her with wide eyes. “We don’t have a…” He thinks about it for a second. “You mean _Henry_?”

Emma nods her head slowly, more unsure than before now at his unexpected reaction. “Yeah, isn’t Henry our son?”

“He’s _your_ son,” Killian replies a bit coldly, not meaning to sound harsh. The Darkness in him must be playing with his emotions, and it’s cruel.

Although he wishes Henry saw him as a father figure, the young lad just doesn’t view him that way. It hurts a little, but Henry never really had much of a real father figure in his life, just Archie and someone else Emma has talked about before, the man whose jacket is hanging on a hook in the station. Emma still refuses to take it down.

_What was his name? Hamlet? No, that’s not it. It starts with a “G”. Maybe George?_

“Who is Henry’s father?” Emma’s voice breaks him from his thoughts and he looks over at her questioning eyes. A look of horror appears on her face and she stumbles away from him on the mattress. “Am I unfaithful to my husband?”

Killian reaches for her but retracts his arm when she flinches away from his incoming hand, knowing he needs to explain their relationship before trying to comfort her.

“No, Emma. You’re not married. Don’t jump to conclusions, you’ll only frighten yourself,” he says quietly, allowing Emma to soak in the information before speaking again. “Henry’s father is no longer with us. You’ll remember soon enough, don’t worry.”

She opens her mouth to talk but decides not to and closes her mouth again, deciding to stare at the floral bedspread.

Despite being the Dark One now, her taste in furniture has stayed about the same. This bed looks just like hers from her parents’ apartment. He allows a small smile to appear on his face, relieved that at least some of Emma still shined through the Dark One exterior while she still had her memories. Speaking of which, it’s high time she gets her memories back anyway.

He doesn’t care about what Regina says. In fact, to hell with Regina. What makes her think she knows what’s best for everyone right now? He knows Emma won’t hurt anyone. She’d never do something so irrational, despite being the Dark One. She’s also the Savior and has better control over the Darkness than anyone else would in her position. Maybe he should just take her to Regina’s vault and use that dreamcatcher to return her memories to her, how hard can it be to put memories back into a person’s head? Surely he can’t mess that up, it will be too easy not to.

“You know what, love?” Killian speaks up, making Emma’s wandering thoughts cease. She looks up at him with wide eyes, silently asking him to continue. “We should just go restore your memories right now.”

Warmth spreads through his chest when he sees her smile brightly.

“Really?” She asks, leaning forward and grabbing onto his hand and arm stump, not caring at all that he’s missing a hand. He thought that she would shudder away from his touch and not want to get near his missing appendage, but she doesn’t show any discomfort so he takes that as a somewhat small victory. He nods his head and scoots to the side of the bed, standing up with her following closely behind.

“Of course. I wronged you, and for that I...” he trails off and looks directly into her emerald eyes, hoping to convey how guilty he feels and his love for her in his gaze. “I’m so sorry. I hope that once this is all over, you can find it in your heart to forgive me.”

Emma rests both of her palms on his cheeks and squishes his face together as an old woman would to a child. “Of course I’ll forgive you. Don’t we love each other?”

Killian doesn’t break his eyes away from hers, he can’t. He loves her and she told him that she loved him before she became the Dark One. They did share some very emotional moments with each other in Camelot, but there’s no telling how she’ll react to his actions during the past few days once her memories are returned to her. For what he did, she has every right to leave him forever and never look him in the eye again.

He’ll quite possibly suffer, but at least Emma will be herself again and she’ll be surrounded with people who love her, no matter what happens after tonight.

“Aye, love,” he says, praying to every god he can think of that she’ll still love him after this whole debacle is over.

* * *

 

“So that’s it?” Emma whispers, looking up at the large doors of the mausoleum, uncomfortable at the thought of entering it in the dead of night. She knows what a graveyard is but she can’t remember ever having been to one before. Killian answers with a short ‘aye’ and waves his hand over it, causing some sort of wave to ripple across the entire building. He mumbles something about a protection spell and says he’ll only be a moment in taking it down but she mentally waves him off.

Sure she’s excited to have her memories back, but she doesn’t want to lose Killian. If what he says is true, that she may not forgive him for what he’s done to her, then she must not be a very forgiving person. She frowns at that thought, not liking it one bit. Instead, she pulls her trusty notepad and marker out of her jacket pocket and opens it to a blank page, uncapping the marker and writing down another piece of information that she knows she won’t need in a few minutes, but it makes her feel better to take note of the things around her.

_Killian loves me_

_I love Killian_

She clutches the notepad to her chest and breathes out, her breath visible in the chilly autumn air. Her eyes wander across the quiet graveyard and stop on a certain tombstone. She creeps toward the stone and sits in front of it, reaching out to trace the name with her finger.

The action feels familiar to her, even though the name she reads is completely foreign to her. She knew this person, that’s for sure. They must have been close enough for her to visit his grave often and familiarize herself with tracing his name on the smooth rock. Hot tears spring to her eyes without her consent and she feels them travel down her cold cheeks, landing on her jacket-clad arm. She begins to shake as sobs tear their way from her throat and she brings her knees close to her chest, wrapping her unoccupied arm around them.

She doesn’t remember this man, but she knew him well. Why else would simply seeing his name elicit such a strong reaction from her?

Her finger glides across the cool stone and back to the first letter again.

* * *

 

By the time Killian takes down Regina’s protection spell – he still isn’t quite sure how he did it without any problems, maybe he’s getting better at controlling magic – Emma has already wandered off. He looks around for her, but it doesn’t take him long to see her sitting in front of Neal’s tombstone, her eyes red and puffy as tears leak from them.

He makes his way to her and wraps an arm around her shoulders, pivoting her away from her ex-lover’s grave.

“Emma, love, it’s time to go inside,” he says. All she does is turn toward him and grasp his shirt, her sobs slowly quieting down. He holds her tight and whispers soothing words to her, trying to make her calm down while also feeling the need to comfort her.

Once she goes silent, he calmly leads her into the mausoleum and down to Regina’s vault, providing loving words and embraces on the way there.

* * *

 

Emma isn’t sure what she was expecting when Killian said he would take her to a vault, but it wasn’t what she sees when they enter it. It’s dark and the first thing she notices is a small room in front of the staircase that has some sort of strange cabinet that reaches the ceiling. It must have over one hundred drawers on it and she wonders what could be inside of each one. Her attention is drawn to Killian when he turns left and walks into a larger room with shelves and chests everywhere.

There is a cauldron against the wall with mist spilling from the top of it. She steps toward it and looks inside of the large black bowl, reaching out to touch the plumes of purple coming out of it, but a hand grasps her wrist and pulls it back quickly. She looks up to see Killian’s disapproving stare.

“Let’s not touch things we don’t understand,” he says and releases her hand, turning around to inspect the room. “If you see a dreamcatcher, let me know.”

Emma is about to tell him that the basement in their house has a box full of dreamcatchers, but she keeps her mouth shut. He already knows that, so they must be here for only _one_ specific dreamcatcher. She looks around and decides that her friend – boyfriend? – would be much better at looking for it than her, so she decides her attention is better used somewhere else.

Kilian will figure it out, she trusts him.

While he’s digging through a pile of books, Emma leaves the little room and sees a mirror across a short hallway. She smiles at her reflection, quite liking how she looks for some reason. She steps closer to the mirror and suddenly hears a quiet whisper.

Freezing, she tries to place the voice, but it is unrecognizable and she can’t make out what it is saying. Another whisper joins in, then another, and another.

Soon all Emma can hear and think about is the sound of small voices speaking to her, drawing her closer to the mirror. She steps forward and reaches out, as if in a trance. When her hand comes in contact with the intricate wallpaper, the wall behind the mirror moves back. Rather than being taken aback, she presses forward and reveals a hidden room behind the wall. The secret door closes behind her as she enters the large room, Killian completely forgotten.

Emma looks around the new room, but her attention isn’t on the furniture or the blinding white and black details everywhere, she is focused solely on the sword underneath the couch. She isn’t sure how she knows it’s there, she is just instantly aware where it is located. She grabs the detailed sword from under the couch and stares at her name on the tip of the wavy blade.

Surely this means something, but she doesn’t know _what_.

Her fingers wrap around the hilt and she suddenly feels filled to the brim with joy and… something else that she can almost place. But what?

The voices whisper again, louder this time, and she hears one word clearly through the jumble of whispers.

_Power._

Does she crave power? She must, or this wouldn’t feel so good.

She lifts the sword and holds it up to the light in front of her, tracing her finger delicately over her name once more.

Of course! Since her name is on the sword, then it must belong to her!

Killian’s muffled voice draws her away from her thoughts and she looks up from the long blade, clutching it lightly to herself so as to avoid any injury while keeping it close. She moves closer to the hidden door and listens to Killian speak from the other side.

“Emma where did you go?” He sounds frustrated and concerned. She can hear him getting closer to the opening wall and she holds her breath.

She doesn’t want to hide from him, but she also doesn’t want him to take away her sword.

_Fight him._

Emma’s eyes widen and she looks around for the source of the voice, reminding herself after a moment that the voices are speaking to her again. She shakes her head, indicating ‘no’.

_You have the sword. You can win._

For once, the voices seem to be in unison, but that doesn’t make her want to listen. She is afraid of them, of what they’re telling her to do.

“I-I don’t want to hurt anyone,” she whispers, backing away from the door.

_Yes, you do. You must._

She falls back onto the couch and grabs a pillow to press onto her face. She doesn’t want to listen to the voices anymore. Where did they come from?

_Kill him._

Her eyes widen and she jumps up, dropping the sword on the floor with a loud clang that echoes throughout the room. She backs away from the large sword and starts breathing heavily, backing up into the wall and running her shaking fingers through her hair, tugging at the roots.

“NO!” She screams, sliding down the wall to the floor and covering her face with her pale hands.

“Emma?!” Killian calls from the other side of the hidden wall. A moment later he stumbles in, looking around the room in shock, not having been in here before. His eyes and on Emma and he rushes to her, kneeling on the floor next to her. “Love, what happened?”

She looks up at him and pushes him away. “D-don’t come near me!” She looks down at her shaking hands and notices something she didn’t know was there before. A leather cuff rests on her wrist and it suddenly feels too tight and constraining. She stares at it for a few seconds before grabbing at it with her other hand, trying desperately to tear it off of her arm.

It won’t budge.

“What?” She frowns.

_He put it there. Only he can remove it._

Emma looks up at Killian and snatches his hand, placing it on the leather cuff angrily, catching him by surprise.

“What are you—“

“Take it off,” she demands through grit teeth.

_Good._

She feels a surge of pride at the praise, even though the same voice was just telling her to kill the man who wants to help her. Killian looks into her eyes and pulls his hand away from her, gently cupping her face.

“Emma, don’t listen to them,” he says, stroking her cheek.

_He doesn’t understand._

She backs away from him, repeating the words that are spoken to her. “No, you don’t understand.” She wants to continue but she feels the need to wait for more to say to him.

_You need him to take off the cuff._

“I need you to take this off of my wrist,” she echoes the voice.

“Swan, stop,” Killian replies sternly. “You don’t know what you’re saying.”

_Yes, you do._

“Yes, I do.”

_Use Excalibur. It’s the only way._

“Excalibur?” Emma mumbles, not knowing what the voice means by that. She looks up at Killian, using a demanding voice that she doesn’t recognize as her own. “What’s Excalibur?”

The pirate uses her momentary confusion to capture both of her hands and yank her out of the room roughly. “Emma listen to yourself! You’ve forgotten why we’re here!”

Emma, on the other hand, looks back to where she dropped the sword and snarls, pulling against his grip on her arms. “Let go of me! I need it!” She kicks his legs and bites the calloused skin on his hand, but he holds onto her tightly, not allowing her to get away from him. “It’s _mine!_ I want it back!”

“This was a mistake,” her captor nearly shouts over her protests. “I should never have brought you with me.”

Emma has resorted to making animalistic noises, growling and panting while trying to break free of her makeshift prison. She no longer cares about the dreamcatcher, all she knows is that she _needs_ that sword. It gives her power and she loves it. She knows she only got a small taste of it. Once the cuff is taken off of her wrist, she knows that the power will feel greater. The small leather bracelet must be handicapping her somehow. It only makes sense.

When the opening wall closes and she once again sees her reflection, she hardly recognizes herself. Her eyes are sunken in and dark. An ugly grimace mars her features, and her hair is wild and disheveled. She stares at herself for a moment and suddenly calms, slumping down in Killian’s arms. He catches her easily and looks worriedly at her face.

For some reason unknown to her, he is still gentle with her, smiling at her and holding her close, not roughly this time, but much more tenderly. She doesn’t understand how he can act kindly to her immediately after she just treated him so harshly.

Emma covers her mouth as tears leak from her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers from behind her fingers. “I don’t know what came over me.”

The other Dark One hugs her and breathes a sigh of relief. “It’s alright, love. I forgive you.” He leads her toward the staircase and out of the mausoleum, not once letting go of her. “I didn’t find the dreamcatcher, but let’s not worry about that right now. We’re going home.”

Emma nods and looks up at the moon, wishing she hadn’t let the small voice get the better of her earlier. She lays her head on Killian’s shoulder. To any bystander, they would look like a happy couple taking a midnight stroll together. But she knows better.

She can’t shake the knowledge that she considered attacking Killian with a sword all because he refused to take a little bracelet off of her wrist for her. Yet, she _does_ want to hold the sword again, wants to feel the incredible power course through her veins as she wields the wavy blade.

_Don’t worry, Dark One. You’ll get Excalibur soon._


	10. Chapter 10

It’s been a week since the fiasco involving Excalibur, but the voices still haven’t gone away. Emma doesn’t care anymore, she’s used to them now. Killian always seems to know when she’s listening to the ‘demons in her head’, as he calls them. He keeps distracting her and keeping her mind occupied on other things, such as spending time with her family and putting together the baby furniture for the nursery.

During this past week, Emma has eavesdropped on several conversations involving her and her memories. According to Regina, the dreamcatcher everyone seems to be so fond of isn’t in her vault, but she won’t tell anyone where she hid it.

So that means Emma has to rely on everyone else to get her out of this mess since she’s ‘under house arrest’. Her dad told her that it is like time out, only this time she can talk and she has to stay inside her house until her parents say she can leave. It’s irritating seeing the same things every day, though.

She wants to go outside and explore the rest of the world, this house has no more secrets for her to discover. Probably.

That thought sinks in for a moment, making her realize that she hasn’t investigated the basement at all since she went down there with Killian that one time.

The Dark One looks up from the book in her lap, which she found in a dusty box under a loose floorboard in her closet, and surveys the room quickly, taking note of her company and their current activities.

Her mom and dad are looking through another book, but theirs is full of pictures of different people who she doesn’t know, but they all look young, probably all ten or eleven. Neal is sleeping in her mother’s arms, his eyelids fluttering due to the dream he must be having. Emma smiles at the cute scene before shifting her gaze to Henry.

Her son is digging through some boxes that they brought down from the attic earlier, sorting things into different piles that he labeled ‘useful’ and ‘useless’. He didn’t explain it to her, but she doesn’t mind not knowing.

Killian isn’t here right now. He left earlier with some woman named Belle to go to the library. Belle made Emma uneasy, especially with the looks she kept giving her. She whispered some things to Killian before they left, making her wonder if Killian and Belle were ever a couple. Maybe they’re just friends, but they seem very close to not have been romantically involved in the past, at least that’s what she thinks.

Emma noticed something peculiar on Killian’s arm yesterday. It was a picture of a heart with a dagger poking through it that had a name over it. She couldn’t get a good look at the name because once she asked Killian what it was, he covered his arms with his sleeves and brusquely informed her that it is a tattoo.

She didn’t know people could get permanent ink printed onto their bodies. She thinks it’s a brilliant idea and she wants a tattoo as well, but she isn’t sure what it should be or where she wants it on her skin.

“Mom, Dad, do you guys have tattoos?” Emma asks suddenly, disrupting the silence of the room and effectively startling everyone around her.

Her parents look at each other with confused expressions, not knowing where her question came from, but willing to answer it.

“No, neither of us have tattoos,” Snow replies. “Why do you ask?”

“Killian has a tattoo,” Emma says, awed. Her bright smile lightens the whole mood of the house somehow. “I want one too.”

“But, sweetie, you already have one,” Snow laughs.

“Yeah, it’s on your wrist,” David nods toward Emma and she looks down to see a small flower sitting right above the leather cuff that she hates so much.

She smiles and kneels down on the floor to show Henry the small flower, proud to have her own tattoo to show off to everyone now. She is a little surprised she never noticed her tattoo before. After all, it’s in a place she looks at often, if only to glare at the infuriating leather cuff keeping her handicapped in a way that she can only describe as depriving her of the power that she deserves.

The door opens suddenly and Emma turns around with a smile on her face, only for it to be replaced with a shocked look when she sees Regina standing in the doorway holding Excalibur. The voices that had quieted down immediately come back in full force. Emma’s eyes lock on the sword and she unconsciously licks her lips, her fingers aching to wrap around the hilt once more. She takes a step forward without meaning to, causing Regina to give her a strange look and move the sword further away from her.

“Regina?” David asks, closing the book he and Snow were looking at and walking toward the older woman. “What are you doing here with,” he trails off and looks over at Emma before lowering his voice, taking note of her hungry expression, “with Excalibur?”

Regina frowns and enters the living room with the sword in her hand, marching up to Emma and getting uncomfortably close to her face. “I know you and Dark One Double broke into my vault. What _exactly_ were you hoping to find?”

Emma’s eyes dart down to Excalibur and back up to Regina, unsure of what to say. She says the only thing she can think of. “Dark One Double?”

The queen sighs and digs the tip of the blade into the hardwood floor in frustration. “Killian! You and _Killian_ were in my vault! What did you take from me?”

The Dark One opens and closes her mouth. She isn’t really sure if Killian took anything from Regina’s vault, but she certainly didn’t.

_Do what she says._

“Why?” Emma asks the voice aloud, not intending to.

“ _Why?_ Because everything in there belongs to _me!_ ” Regina scoffs as if the answer should be obvious. “If you two thieves stole from me, I have a right to know!”

_She has Excalibur. It controls you. Don’t make her use it._

Emma’s eyes widen at the terrifying words of the voices. She looks up at Regina and breathes deeply to calm her nerves. Even though she’s unsure if Killian stole anything from Regina, she’ll cover for him in case he did. “No, we didn’t take anything from your vault.”

Regina growls and turns around toward David. “Zelena must have broken in. All of my spell books are missing and she seems to be the only culprit left.”

_Now’s your chance. Take Excalibur from her._

Emma doesn’t even think. She simply obeys the voice and lunges forward, snatching the sword from Regina without considering the consequences. Her hand clutches the hilt and she lifts it up as she backs toward the staircase, pointing it at everyone in the room.

“Emma?” Snow asks, fear in her voice. “What are you doing?”

Emma slowly makes her way up the stairs while keeping her eyes on her father and Regina, the only people who post a threat to her right now, since her mother is holding a baby and Henry is just a kid.

“You bitch!” Regina gasps, pointing at the woman on the staircase. “You have your memories back, don’t you?”

Emma furrows her brows. How can she have her memories back? Killian never found the dreamcatcher. She is about to shake her head when her father speaks up.

“Emma, please give us the sword.” Emma thinks about his words for a moment before replying.

“Okay,” she whispers, her voice shaking. “You can have it.” She transfers Excalibur to one hand and reaches out her arm with the leather cuff on it so everyone can see. “But you have to take this off of me first.”

_Very good, Dark One. You’re learning._

“So, kind of like a deal?” Henry asks from behind the couch.

Emma’s heart stutters at the words and she smiles widely, the voices suddenly crying out in unison.

_Yes, a deal! Make a deal!_

“Yes. A deal. Let’s make a deal,” Emma speaks quietly to match the whispering voices, but her voice resonates around the room, shaking everyone to the core.

“Okay, a deal it is then,” David says, stepping toward his daughter and reaching out to her wrist. “Anyone opposed?”

Everyone stays silent, a little shaken at Emma’s sudden mood swing. It’s like she’s become a completely different person in the last five minutes. It must be her Darkness finally shining through to the surface, taking control.

David wiggles his fingers under the hard leather of the cuff and pulling it off of her wrist in one swift move, pocketing the cuff and reaching back out for Excalibur.

She was right. Without the cuff, the power she feels coursing through her is easily ten times more invigorating and satisfying. She inhales deeply and closes her eyes at the unbelievable amount of complete freedom and power that she feels. Her entire body feels like a heavy weight has been lifted from it and she can’t wait to use this new freedom to its fullest.

“A deal’s a deal. Now the sword?” His voice shakes slightly, showing how much he hates talking to his own daughter like she’s just another devious Dark One.

_Give him the sword._

“But I want it,” Emma protests loudly, frowning at the voice for telling her to return it to her family.

_You heard him. A deal’s a deal._

Emma huffs and thrusts the sword forward for her father to take. “A deal’s a deal,” she repeats, crossing her arms once Excalibur is taken from her possession.

David steps back and is quick to hand the sword over to the queen fuming by the door.

_Escape! Now!_

Emma has no idea what to do now. She only knows that she needs to get out of this room and go somewhere, anywhere. She internally curses herself and asks the voice how she can escape. She doesn’t want to be caught by the heroes now, especially since she isn’t supposed to be on their side in the first place.

An image appears in her head of a room that she’s never seen before to her knowledge. It looks like a rickety old room with a bunch of small windows littering one wall, showing nothing but the ocean through them. There is a large bed on one side of the room, a table in the center, and a desk next to a bookshelf on the far side near a ladder.

_Go here! Now!_

Emma squeezes her eyes shut and imagines herself in the picture provided for her by the voices. She doesn’t know why, but for some reason, she believes that she can just send herself there without having to physically move. When she opens her eyes, she finds that she’s right, noticing her different surroundings immediately. She gasps when she sees that she is in the room the voices showed to her, not expecting it to be a real place that she can visit.

“What is this place?” Emma asks the voices aloud, not caring how crazy she sounds. No one is here to hear her anyway.

_This is Killian’s ship. No one will look for you here._

She likes the sound of that, no one coming onto this ship in search of her. She walks around the room and looks at everything that she can, taking note of various items that catch her eyes. After a few minutes, she grows bored and wants to do something useful, seeing as this past week she has been under house arrest and unable to help anyone with anything.

_There is something you can do. The dreamcatcher everyone is so obsessed with contains something that will cause you harm._

Emma stiffens and sits down on the bed, furrowing her brows at the information. “Then why does everyone want it so badly? What will it do to me?”

_It will destroy you. Everyone wishes to use it against you for their own personal gain._

“Really?” Emma becomes nervous and runs her fingers through her hair as she feels slight anxiety settling into her mind.

_You must stop them. You must destroy the dreamcatcher before anyone can use it on you._

Emma nods and repeats the words to herself. “I must stop them. I must destroy the dreamcatcher before anyone can use it on me.”

_Good, you’re finally obeying me._

Emma shudders unpleasantly at that statement, not liking the idea of submitting to the voices within her, but it’s the simplest thing to do in a world where everything around her is so complex and confusing. And she can’t help herself, it’s almost as if the voices are her conscience in the form of creepy whispers telling her not to trust anyone but herself.

Despite her hesitance toward listening to the voices of her own volition, she finds that she doesn’t know what to do without the familiar whispers to guide her. Emma sits down on the large bed and wonders what the voices want her to do now. But they’ve gone strangely silent and she has no idea why.

“Hello? Anybody there?” She asks the empty space in front of her as if the voices would suddenly materialize into a person, which seems highly unlikely.

But lo and behold, a strange-looking woman suddenly appears out of thin air, looking directly at Emma. The Dark One backs up against the wall and stares at the stranger, who has a sickly green hue to her skin and appears to be covered in glitter. Her dark hair is pulled back in a braided bun and she wears a dark cloak that billows around her like a black cloud.

“I’m right here,” the woman says, her accent confusing Emma a bit. The voices don’t speak this way, so why does this woman, the so-called physical form of said voices? “But I cannot stay long. You see, I am only visible to you.” That sentence doesn’t sit right with the white-haired woman on the bed. She knows the apparition is lying, but she doesn’t care enough to stop the woman’s explanation. “If you listen to me, you’ll have Excalibur.”

“The sword?” Emma questions, relaxing slightly, despite a new voice inside of her telling her not to listen to the woman. She doesn’t recognize the voice, but it comforts her for some reason. It isn’t whispering like the creepy voices before it, it pleads loudly in despair. But it’s quickly drowned out by the whispers returning and the woman clearing her throat.

“Yes, the sword you love so much. I love it too. That’s why I’m going to help you get it.” A smirk settles on the green woman’s face, a smirk that puts Emma on edge for some reason.

“Why would you help me get something that you want?”

“Oh, I don’t want it. I want you to have it so you can do something for me.” Emma leans forward to acknowledge that she’s listening to what the woman has to say. “My comrades and I want you to use the sword to destroy all light forever.”

Emma scoffs. “Why would I do that? I may have lost my memories, but I still know the difference between good and bad.”

“And which side are you on? Good? Certainly, those so-called _heroes_ don’t want you anymore. They called you a villain without even hearing what you have to say in your defense. They cannot be trusted.” The woman sits next to Emma and grabs her hands tightly, looking directly into her wide eyes. “The only way to save yourself is to destroy them.”

Emma shakes her head, pulling away from the woman. “No! You’re wrong. This is wrong. I-I shouldn’t be—“

A door above the ladder suddenly opens and Emma jumps off of the bed, stumbling across the room.

“Emma? Are you in here?” Emma’s heart does backflips when she hears Killian’s voice. He climbs down the ladder without difficulty and is barely facing her when she jumps onto him, squeezing her arms around him tightly in a suffocating hug.

“Killian!” Emma breathes into his shoulder as he nearly loses balance at the sudden weight on his body. “H-how did you find me?”

The pirate sets her down on the floorboards and checks her over a few times. “I heard you ran away. Why did you come to my ship?”

Emma freezes. She can’t tell him about the voices, he wouldn’t understand. He’d only call her crazy and take her back to her family, and they would definitely put that wretched cuff back on her. She looks up into his sapphire eyes, as mysterious as the ocean and far deeper. She can trust him, can’t she? He made a mistake, but everyone does from time to time, and she can rely on his honesty when it comes to certain topics.

“Promise you won’t tell anyone?” Emma whispers, looking toward the hatch above the ladder to make sure no one else is on the ship. Killian nods hesitantly. “The voices told me to.”

Killian inhales sharply and leads Emma toward the bed. “Love, don’t listen to them. They only want to hurt you.”

Emma cocks her head to the side in confusion. “You… You know about the voices?”

“Yes. I hear them too.”

“But how?”

“We’re Dark Ones, remember? I try to ignore them.”

“Does that mean you can see her too?”

A bad feeling settles in Killian’s stomach and he looks around the room for another person, but he finds no one. “See who, Emma?”

Emma points to the wall and looks back at her boyfriend after a moment. “Her. I don’t know her name, though.” A second later she turns to look at the wall speaks again. “I don’t think I can pronounce that.”

Killian panics. The apparitions of previous Dark Ones have been visible to both of them until now. How long has Emma been seeing her without him knowing about it? “Is her name Nimue?”

Emma furrows her brows. “Yes. How did you know?”

They are both engulfed in green smoke, vanishing from the room.

* * *

 

Emma opens her eyes and looks around, seeing a room that she has never been in before. She is in some sort of living room that molds into a dining room as well. There is a small couch to her right with a coffee table in front of it. On the other side of the room is a large table with chairs around it. It has a few piles of books on it and a candle in the center with a ring of some sort of powder around it. Emma turns her attention confusedly to Killian, who stands right next to her.

“Where are we?”

Killian isn’t clueless at all, unlike Emma. He grabs her hand and pulls Emma toward a door that she didn’t notice, reaching out to turn the handle. A voice stops him dead in his tracks.

“Leaving so soon?” Emma turns around and sees an unfamiliar woman with curly orange hair, her hands clasped behind her as a bright smile rests on her face. “But you only just got here.”


	11. Chapter 11

“Killian, who’s this?” Emma looks at the man next to her and back to the orange-haired woman in front of them.

“No one told you about me?” The unfamiliar woman asks in mock disappointment. “Well, I’ve got to admit, that hurts a bit. Right here.” She places her hand over her heart and pouts, but the dissatisfaction is clearly fake.

Emma raises an eyebrow skeptically. There is something not right about this woman, something that gives her a bad feeling. She reaches for Killian’s hand and is thankful when he accepts her hand and curls his fingers around hers.

“I’m Emma,” The Dark One reaches out her free hand to shake the woman’s, hoping to direct the encounter to a better place. “What’s your name?”

The woman ignores the offer of a handshake and turns toward the kitchen table. “Zelena.” She grabs a book from the table and runs her finger along the pattern on the cover. “I’d love to chat, really, but I brought you two here for a reason. Sailor boy, do you have the dreamcatcher?”

Killian clenches his jaw angrily, glaring at Zelena. “If I did, I’d never give it to you.” He narrows his eyes and squeezes Emma’s hand tightly. “I know your intentions aren’t good.”

Zelena snorts and sets the book down. “Is it that obvious?” She sarcastically remarks, wiping an imaginary tear from her eye. Her red +-

lips form into a smirk and she looks at Emma. “Have you seen a pretty dreamcatcher anywhere?” She makes a small circle in the air with her hand. “It’s about this big. It’s got a few feathers hanging from the bottom. I think you’d like it.”

Emma shakes her head and backs away a bit. Killian seems to hate this woman, so why should she trust her? “No, I don’t like dreamcatchers. But thanks anyway.”

“Oh, but this one is important, you see,” Zelena clasps her hands together and steps toward the couple by the door, a smile spreading across her face. “It contains your memories.”

Emma’s eyes widen and she looks up at Killian, waiting for him to prove this lady wrong, but he only stands silently beside her. She knows Zelena isn’t lying, she can tell. But she still needs confirmation that she is being truthful, that she isn’t trying to deceive them. “Killian, is she telling the truth?” Emma questions as the man turns toward her, his blue eyes locking onto her green ones.

“Aye, love,” he confirms. “But I don’t have it. It’s stored away for safekeeping.”

Emma can’t believe what she’s hearing. Killian is lying to her. They were looking for that dreamcatcher in Regina’s vault last week and they failed to find it. He didn’t hide it to protect anyone, he _lost_ it to Regina.

_He’s been lying to you this whole time. Listen to Zelena, she’ll help you find the dreamcatcher._

“Why is everyone so obsessed with my memories!?” Emma yells furiously, trying to silence the voices in her head while also attempting to knock some sense into the two people in the room with her. “This is getting ridiculous! Did it ever occur to anyone that maybe I don’t _want_ my memories back? By the sounds of it, I was a terrible person when I knew who I was, so maybe this is for the best!” She yanks her arm out of Killian’s grasp and throws the door open, running out onto the porch and into the fresh air, leaving Killian and Zelena behind her.

* * *

 

Outside the house, there is a large field with a forest nearby. That’s where Emma decides to run to first. If she escapes their line of sight quickly then she may be able to find shelter somewhere in the forest. She hears Killian yell her name from behind her, but she is already halfway across the field, running as fast as she can. Her eyes burn with tears, but she doesn’t know exactly what causes them to appear.

“Damnit, I worked hard to get the right spell!” Zelena’s voice rings out from the house, fury evident in her words.

Emma hears footsteps behind her, much too close for her liking. She shuts her eyes and thinks of a place, any place, but nothing appears.

_Go here._

A picture flashes in her mind and she holds it close, allowing her thoughts to revolve around the place. It doesn’t look familiar, but she isn’t surprised by the foreignness of it. Instead, she imagines herself there and wills her magic to transport her to the picture in her mind.

When she opens her eyes, she is no longer running. Instead, she’s sitting on a bench, looking out at a large pond in front of her. She blinks a few times, taking note of the ducks swimming in the blue water, her legs crossed with her hands resting on top of her knees.

“Well would you look at that,” a feminine voice slithers into the silence. “You used your dark powers again. Aren’t you glad you started listening to me?”

The woman from before comes to stand in front of Emma, her green skin glittering in the sunlight unnaturally. The white-haired woman retreats in on herself before thinking of a different approach than what she used last time on this woman.

“I don’t want to talk,” Emma says, curling in on herself, bringing her legs up to her chest and wrapping her arms around her legs. “Can’t you just leave me alone?”

The woman scoffs and glides to sit next to her. “I could, but you need me. And besides, I helped you escape those nasty heroes and your boyfriend when they turned on you.”

Emma nods and relaxes back onto the bench a little. “Thanks for that, it really got me out of those situations.”

“Of course it did,” A smirk settles on Nimue’s face as she stands up from the bench and holds her hand out to Emma. “Don’t you want my help all the time, Dark One?”

The woman in question removes herself from the wooden seat and turns away from the cloaked lady with green skin, intent on leaving her alone at this scenic park area. She doesn’t make it five feet away when she hears the woman speak up one last time.

“You’ll need me soon, just you wait.”

By the time Emma turns around, the woman is gone without a trace, leaving her to wonder if she’s lost her sanity.

* * *

 

Killian watches helplessly as Emma disappears in a puff of black smoke, his fist closing around nothing but air the moment she vanishes. Fury bubbles up inside of him and he turns around quickly, coming face-to-face with the witch that screwed everything up.

“You scared her away!” The pirate yells, pointing an accusatory finger at Zelena.

“I only wanted to have a little chat, I wasn’t going to _hurt_ anyone!” The new mother angrily shouts back. “I’m sure she’s not too far anyway. It’s not like she can leave town, now, can she?” She walks toward the tree line, into the forest. “Well, are you coming?”

Killian lets out a loud, sarcastic laugh. “You think I’d let you help me look for her?”

Zelena snorts. “I don’t care what you think. If you’re not coming then won’t you please make yourself scarce?”

The pirate seethes and wills himself away with his magic, vanishing from the field in an instant.

* * *

 

It takes longer than she wanted, but Emma finally manages to find her way into town. She wanders aimlessly down Main Street, looking around for nothing in particular. As she passes people, she notices a strange pattern in their behavior.

It seems as though everyone who sees her is quick to enter the nearest building as soon as they can. It’s almost as if everyone is purposefully avoiding her, and she decides she doesn’t like it one bit.

A neon sign catches her attention. It is hanging from the side of a cute little diner with an area for outdoor seating, green fencing lining the metal tables and chairs. She smiles without thinking and walks straight toward the front door, pushing open the door to go inside.

A bell jingles when she steps onto the tiled floor, and suddenly there are dozens of eyes on the Dark One. The diner isn’t very full, but there are enough people in it that their stares make her uncomfortable. She makes her way to the counter and sits at one of the stools, silently watching the people in the kitchen preparing food and whispering gossip to each other. She folds her arms on the table and rests her head on them, glad to finally be away from all of the crazy stuff that has happened so far today.

After a couple of minutes, a kind-looking old woman approaches her and leans forward so she can speak quietly.

“Look, I don’t want any trouble in here right now,” she states in a stern voice. “So if you have anything nefarious planned, please take it somewhere else.”

Emma blinks at her, confused by her choice of words. She smiles and holds out her hand in a friendly manner, hoping to show to the old woman that she means no harm.

“Hi, I’m Emma,” she says, catching the woman off-guard, judging by the startled look on her face. The younger woman keeps the smile on her face, trying to convey her innocence. “I don’t know if anyone has told you, but I don’t have any memories of myself or anyone else. See, someone took my memories and I’ve been staying at Killian’s house since then.” She pauses and smiles sheepishly. “What’s your name?”

The woman laughs out loud and tilts her head back, attracting the attention of several patrons in the diner, and effectively making Emma feel self-conscious. “You lost your memories?” She shakes her head and continues, her voice laced in sarcasm. “Right, and I’m a fairy!”

Emma looks down at her hands, a deep blush spreading on her cheeks. When she came here, she wasn’t expecting to be gawked at while an old woman laughed in her face. She speaks quietly so only the woman in front of her can hear her words.

“Would you, by any chance, know a man named David? He’s my dad.”

The older woman stops laughing and gives her a skeptical look, narrowing her eyes. “Alright, I’ll humor you,” she says. “Yes, I know David.”

Emma visibly relaxes, a sigh escaping her mouth. “Can you please call him for me? I got lost and—“

Just then, the door to the diner swings open and Emma’s mother comes rushing inside. She spots Emma immediately and runs toward her to crush her in a bear hug.

“Oh, Emma, you scared us so much!” Snow says, brushing her fingers through her daughter’s hair. “You just disappeared and we had no idea where you went!”

The frigid woman in her arms bursts into tears, all of the stress of the day leaking from her eyes. Snow pulls her closer and gives an appreciative nod to the elderly woman behind the counter. She leads her daughter to a table in the corner of the diner, away from the prying gazes of the other people in the building.

“What happened earlier?” Snow asks. “One minute, everything was fine, then suddenly you tried to take Excalibur and then left. Are you okay?”

Emma sniffles, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand. She shakes her head and looks at her mother in the eyes. “I hear voices. They—“ She cuts off and takes a deep breath. “They tell me what to do, and I listen. I don’t like doing what they say, but they won’t leave me alone. Th-they told me to take Excalibur from Regina, and to run away after Dad took that thing off of my wrist.” She tries to calm her shaky breathing as she continues to speak. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare anyone.”

Snow sighs and reaches across the table to hold onto Emma’s hands tightly. “Sweetie, it’s okay. We’ll work through this, I promise. I’ll call your father and he’ll come here to bring us back home.”

The Dark One nods her head and sniffles, staring down at her lap. Her mom pulls out her cellphone and dials David’s number, waiting a few seconds before speaking into the small box.

“David, I found Emma,” Snow says. “We’re at _Granny’s_. Could you come to pick us up and take us back to the loft?” She smiles at Emma and runs her thumb over her daughter’s knuckles to comfort her. “Great, see you then. Love you.” The black-haired woman hangs up her phone and puts it back into her pocket. She turns back to her daughter and waves over a young lady with long hair.

The brunette woman comes over and raises a brow at Emma, crossing her arms in suspicion. “Hey, Snow,” she says, lowering her voice and leaning forward to speak into her friend’s ear. “What’s up with Emma?”

Emma looks down at her lap in shame, not knowing what she must have done to this woman before she forgot everything about her life. She folds her arms on the table and rests her head on them, sighing out a puff of air at the woman’s obvious whispering. It’s not hard to hear their ‘secret’ conversation. In fact, it’s painfully easy to understand each word they say to each other.

“Emma lost her memories,” Snow whispers back. “She doesn’t know about… well, you know.”

The Dark One’s eyes dart up to the duo in front of her. Did her mother just say that there’s more she doesn’t know, more she hasn’t been told?

It’s no surprise to her that she is still unaware of many things that happened in her life, but the fact that something was worth mentioning without being blatantly talked about seems notable to her. She closes her eyes and pretends she doesn’t hear, hoping to give them some semblance of privacy while they continue conversing. She’s actually happy for once, not understanding what they’re talking about. It bothered her before, but if she’s a bad person then maybe she’s better off not getting her memories back. It’s definitely something she’ll talk to Regina about.

* * *

 

“You didn’t tell her what she did to Sneezy?”

“Ruby, shush!” Snow looks across the table at her daughter, shoulders relaxing a fair amount when she sees that Emma appears to be ignoring their conversation and resting her eyes for the time being. “There’s a lot of stuff going on right now, and I don’t want to get into all of it. And besides, Emma doesn’t need to know every dark deed she’s ever done. At least not yet.”

Ruby sighs and pulls a chair up to the table, sitting in it so she can continue talking to her close friend. “Can’t you guys just return her memories?”

The woman in question tenses, the two friends noticing as she does. Apparently, she _has_ been listening.

Snow nods at Ruby, indicating that _yes_ , they can, before answering verbally. “No, unfortunately not. Regina wants to make sure there’s no spell on the dreamcatcher so Emma doesn’t get hurt when we use it.”

Ruby bobs her head in understanding. “Oh, I see, alright then.” She reaches over to Emma and places her hand on the other woman’s arm. “Hey, Em, you want a grilled cheese? On the house.”

Emma opens her eyes and looks up at Ruby, crinkling her brow in confusion. She looks over at her mother with a lost look in her eyes, searching for help with answering the question. Surely she’s not expected to make a decision involving something that makes no sense to her.

“Go ahead, sweetie,” Snow encourages her. “Do you want one?”

Emma looks between her mother and the waitress, mouth agape.

“I think she does,” The brunette says, giving a soft smile to her. “Don’t worry, you’ll love it.” And with that, she parades back to the kitchen, leaving them alone at the table again.

* * *

 

“Emma!” Killian pushes open the door to her house, stepping in and looking around the living room. No one appears to be here, but there are empty plates on the table and a few dishes in the sink, so he knows someone was here recently. Probably her family.

He quietly curses himself for allowing this situation to get so completely out of hand. It’s his fault she lost her memories and has been as lost as a blind man in the middle of the ocean. He is the only one to blame for Emma’s recent disappearance and her reasonable hesitance to want her memories back. By what she’s been told and learned so far, she probably thinks she’s the most despicable thing to ever walk the earth. In all honesty, he wouldn’t want his memories back either if he was in her position.

Killian trudges upstairs and checks the other rooms to be sure no one else is present in Emma’s home. On his way back to the living room, he hears an all too familiar voice hiss in his ear like a serpent.

“Well, well, if it isn’t my favorite Dark One.”

He turns and glares at the disgusting apparition next to him. “Nimue.” The pirate makes sure to take a step back, keeping some distance between him and the magic-made hallucination. “What do you want?”

“Straight to the point, I see,” the vile woman with green skin answers in a cold voice that sends shivers down his spine. “Emma has been very awful lately. I want you to punish her for her wrongdoings.”

Killian’s frown deepens and his arm shoots up to squeeze the life out of Nimue, but she doesn’t even flinch.

“Now, Dark One, you can’t do that. I’m not real. Remember? Besides, you want Emma to behave herself, don’t you?”

She’s taunting him, he knows. She knows where Swan is.

“What have you done with her?”

Nimue smiles deviously. “All I’ve done is plant a small seed of temptation in her, whether she realizes it or not. She’s unbelievably malleable like this. Remind me later to thank you for stealing her memories.” The first Dark One continues to torment Killian with her words, taking sick pleasure in seeing his shame grow. “Excalibur is calling for her. She may not know it yet, but everything that she does now takes her closer and closer to victory for all Dark Ones.”

Killian seethes. “Liar! She’s too good to do anything to help you monsters!”

The apparition sidesteps him and closes her eyes in nonchalance. “If you say so. But when she willingly dooms her own family to bring us back, you may want to reconsider which side you’re on.”

With those last words, she leaves him alone in the empty living room to contemplate the new information.


	12. Chapter 12

After the best sandwich she’s ever eaten and a short car ride, Emma finds herself on the couch back at her parent’s loft, a mug of hot cocoa in her hands. She takes a few sips and sets it down on the coffee table in front of her. Her hands rest on her thighs, rubbing the unfamiliar material of her blue jeans. When she got here earlier, her mother dragged her upstairs and helped her pick out clothes that weren’t covered in dirt and grass stains from her trek through the forest.

She’s well aware of the storm that is sure to come once Regina arrives. The last time she saw her, she was accused of having regained her memories as part of a sinister plot to destroy everyone. The Dark One closes her eyes and rests her chin on her knuckles.

Suddenly, the door swings open and in stomps a furious Regina.

“You!” The queen yells, pointing an accusatory finger directly at Emma. “I can’t believe your parents are even allowing you to stay here!”

Emma briefly wonders if Regina has always had issues with her, or if this is a new thing.

“Regina, don’t yell at her,” Snow chides, entering the living room from the kitchen. “Don’t get mad at her for something that isn’t her fault!”

An angrier look crosses Regina’s face, and she motions toward Emma helplessly. “And just _how_ is her taking Excalibur and threatening us not her fault?”

“She can’t control the Darkness! You can’t blame her for—“

“It _is_ my fault,” Emma speaks up finally, tired of the continuous arguments about her. “I shouldn’t have listened when she told me to take Excalibur, but I did.”

The loft goes silent, the only sounds that of David hushing Neal back to sleep in the other room, trying to calm the baby who had been woken from the yelling. Regina and Snow give Emma shocked looks, but she simply stands up to meet their eyes, a look of defiance in her own. Her gaze challenges them to counter her argument, tell her that she’s still good and wholesome and pure, but she knows better. She’s bad through and through, and she doesn’t want this conversation to continue. She’d much rather just end the day and try to fix her life another time.

_“She?”_ Regina wonders aloud, eyes narrowing in Emma’s direction.

Emma realizes that she referred to the voices as one singular person. She stares at Regina’s calculating eyes and opens her mouth to speak, but her mother’s voice cuts in before she gets the chance to defend herself.

“Emma hears voices,” Snow says, saving her daughter as quickly as she can. “Apparently they’ve been telling her what to do this whole time.”

Regina turns back to Emma and narrows her gaze.

“You said ‘ _she_.’”

As if on cue, Nimue appears behind the two women, capturing Emma’s attention. A cold smile is on the green woman’s face. She walks around Snow and approaches Emma, who takes a few steps back. Snow and Regina share a nervous glance before moving closer to the seemingly frightened Dark One.

“Emma?” Snow asks. “Can you see someone?”

The woman in question vigorously nods her head, her eyes blown wide in fear. She points to Nimue with a surprisingly steady finger. Regina and Snow look around the room but find no one else with them. The cautious mother reaches out for her daughter, placing a tentative hand on her arm. She glances around once more, her search coming up empty.

“Who do you see?” Snow questions her daughter with concern in her voice.

“Tell them, Dark One. They’ll think you’ve gone insane at last,” Nimue taunts from beside Emma, only making her feel more uncomfortable. She’s so close to the younger woman’s ear now, Emma is sure she would be able to hear even the faintest whisper from her mouth. “You’ll only be safe if you _run._ ” She circles Emma a few times, examining her with a sharp gaze. “They want a reason to hate you, so they’ll find one soon enough.”   
  
“No, no,” The Dark One mumbles as she takes a step back, bringing her hands up to cover her ears. She closes her eyes and shakes her head to try to block out Nimue’s words. “You’re lying!”

“Emma. Look at me,” Snow pleads. She reaches out and grasps her daughter’s arms firmly. A pained look crosses her face. “Emma, please.”

Regina frowns at Emma and steps directly in front of her, brushing Snow to the side.

“Calm down,” the mayor projects. “Who are you talking to?”

In response, Emma drops her arms to her sides and stares at Regina incredulously. “Her!” She points at Nimue and raises her voice almost aggressively. _“Her!_ Can’t you see her?! She’s right _there_!” The Dark One swings her arms out angrily, sparks flying around the room at her gesture. She takes no notice of the reaction. “Why am l the only one who can see her?!”

“That’s it, use your anger,” Nimue hisses. “Show them what you’re really capable of!”

Emma balls her fists and hears several loud popping noises all around her. Snow and Regina duck to the floor and shield their heads with their arms as small shards of glass rain down from above. The harsh sound silences everyone’s voices and the room goes dark, the only light leaking in through the windows. Neal’s terrified screams travel from the other room and echo around the loft. Electricity crackles dangerously in the air. With wide eyes full of fear and fury, Emma stares directly at Nimue and speaks lowly.

“What are you—“

“Emma stop this!”

“Just calm down and we can _talk_!”

David runs into the room, holding Neal in his arms with a blanket over his head to protect him.

“What’s going on in here?”

“I didn’t m—“

“She tried to kill us!” Regina interrupts.

David’s eyes dart to Emma before going back to his wife. He takes a tentative step toward Snow to help her up from the ground. Neal shifts in his arms and he pulls his son closer into his protective embrace.

Emma looks at everyone before her, noting the unbridled terror in their faces that matches her own.

 “They’re afraid of you,” Nimue’s voice slithers back into her mind. Time slows down as she allows the vile woman to plant poison within her. “All it takes is fear to make them turn on you in an instant.” Emma allows the hot tears to slide down her smooth cheeks and stain her skin. “You know what you have to do.”

She’s right. As much as Emma hates to admit it, Nimue is right.

She slowly backs away from her family and Regina, never taking her eyes off of them.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers, holding her fisted hands against her chest. Tears well in her eyes and her heart pounds in her ears. “I’m sorry.” Her back hits the doorframe.

Snow’s eyes soften at her daughter. She moves forward with her arm outstretched in a peace offering, her own eyes watery with emotion.

“Emma…”

Without a second thought, the Dark One squeezes her eyes shut and wills herself somewhere far away from the loft.

* * *

 

“Emma?” Killian calls out, stepping onto the _Jolly Roger_. He looks up at the dark clouds gathering in the sky. It was sunny and clear not three hours ago, and now the threat of a thunderstorm looms overhead. Uneasiness settles in his gut, but he shakes the feeling off and continues his search for his girlfriend. “Are you here?”

He opens the hatch to the captain’s quarters and climbs down the ladder. There’s no sign of Emma here. The Dark One curses under his breath and slams his fist down onto the table in the center of the room. He thinks over the places he’s already been, wondering where else she could possibly be.

She isn’t home, _Granny’s_ , the pond they used to visit together, or his ship.

Killian runs his fingers through his hair in exasperation and sighs loudly. He hasn’t seen Nimue since he stopped by Emma’s house earlier. He wouldn’t normally have a problem with that, but the monster’s absence may mean she is whispering venom into Emma’s ears right now. He feels anger boil under his skin at the thought of Emma succumbing to the Darkness a second time.

_Because of him._

A ringing noise pulls him from his thoughts, and he reaches down to pull his phone from his pocket. Regina’s flashes on the screen above her name. He clicks the “answer” button and holds the device up to his ear.

“Need something, your Majesty?”

_“Hook!”_ Regina’s voice shouts from the other end. _“Where’s Emma? She disappeared_ again _.”_

The pirate frowns and sits down on his bed.

“She was with you?”

_“Well she_ was. _But obviously, she’s not anymore.”_ The frustration in Regina’s tone only serves the fuel the fire of his anger. _“Have you seen her?”_

“No,” he replies flatly. “I’ve been looking for her all over the place.”

_“Damnit. She’s hiding.”_

“Not for long. I’ll find her.” With those final words, he hangs up the phone and storms up the ladder to the deck.

He is instantly drenched in water as rain pours heavily from the sky. The storm that had been threatening the town all morning finally started. Killian looks toward the forest on the edge of town and sees lightning explode in the sky.

* * *

 

Kelly’s screams of fright bounce off the walls of the old farmhouse. Zelena sets the spellbook down on the table and gets up to go into her daughter’s bedroom. The newborn kicks her legs in the air and squeezes her chubby hands into fists.

“There, there, my love,” Zelena soothes, picking her up and rocking her gently against her bosom. “Are you hungry?”

She sees lightning flash outside through the window, followed by the loud rumble of thunder. Kelly’s cries rise in volume at the sound. She clings tightly to her steady mother and presses her face into her shirt.

“Oh, you’re afraid of the storm,” the witch says amusedly. “It can’t hurt you, darling. Here, I’ll make it all better.”

With a wave of her hand, the noises outside cease to them. She gets the feeling that sound-canceling protection spells will become more frequent in her life as she continues to care for her new baby. Kelly’s screams quiet down quickly after that, and she appreciates the peaceful silence around her. Zelena sits down in the rocking chair beside the crib, lulling Kelly back to sleep in her arms.

* * *

 

“Zelena!” Regina’s voice startles the witch from her sleep. She doesn’t remember dozing off, but she must have at some point. Kelly is still resting against her chest, slumbering deeply. “Where the hell are you?”

Zelena stands from the rocking chair and walks out into the living room, coming face to face with her younger sister.

“Do you mind keeping your voice down, ‘Gina dear?” she asks quietly, a hint of humor in her tone. “My baby is sleeping.”

“ _Robin’s_ baby,” Regina corrects angrily, a frown marring her features. “You kidnapped her from the hospital.”

“You’re accusing me of kidnapping _my own_ baby?” Zelena scoffs. “I have the right to have her.”

“Under normal circumstances, yes, but in this case—“

Regina stops talking suddenly, her attention drawn away from her sister and to the books on the table in the center of the living room.

“My spellbooks,” she says lowly, glaring furiously at the other woman. “ _You_ broke into my vault. I yelled at Emma for that. I thought she was trying to take Excalibur.”

Zelena laughs, making sure to keep her voice down so as not to wake the sleeping baby in her arms.

“I’m not after Excalibur. If I was, you’d know it.” She adjusts Kelly in her embrace as she words her next sentence as innocently as she can manage. “I just want to care for my baby and give her all the love that our mother never gave me.”

Regina’s face softens briefly. “Zelena, listen. She’s Robin’s child too. He has just as much claim to her as you do, minus the murderous tendencies.”

The witch tightens her jaw in anger and holds Kelly nearer to herself. She steps between Regina and the table, partially hiding the books from her sight in hopes of concealing the spell she’s planning to use. Her eyebrows furrow into a frown.

“Well if you two feel so strongly about it, I _suppose_ he can visit her from time to time. As for you…”

Zelena waves her hand in the air and Regina vanishes from her house in a cloud of green smoke. She rolls her eyes in annoyance and sets another few protection spells over the house to make sure her sister stays out for good this time. After several minutes of reinforcing her magic, Zelena returns to the nursery and sets Kelly down in her crib.

“There we go, my love,” she whispers. “Sleep well.”

She returns to the living room and stacks the spellbooks on top of each other before pushing them to the side and sighing tiredly. If only Regina didn’t feel the incessant need to try to ruin her life every waking moment. But unfortunately for her, the universe is never in her favor.

The living room lights up briefly as lightning cracks down outside, and Zelena is grateful that she had the insight to sound-proof the house from outside noises earlier. She glances up at the clock and sees that it’s only noon.

She spent almost two hours this morning trying to find Emma in the forest, but she came up empty. When she returned home, Kelly was thankfully still asleep.

She would go after the dreamcatcher before getting her hands on Emma, but she still hasn’t figured out how to alter memories within it. However, she _does_ know how to create false memories from nothing. For a moment she wonders if it’s even worth it. Should she even try to bring Emma to her side?

_Of course, I should,_ she reassures herself. _If I don’t, then I’ll have to defend myself and my child by myself._

A past conversation comes to mind, one with her and Emma before she lost her memories. She’d broken her out of her cell for a few minutes to give her onion rings and offer her freedom and protection. The Dark One’s words echo in her mind.

_“You_ will _need an ally in this town.”_

Zelena had rejected her deal and said she didn’t mind being alone. She realizes now how wrong she had been. Maybe she can track down Emma and make a deal with her again, one that they can both agree to. She’d vanished into the forest earlier and doesn’t know her way back to town. There are plenty of caves and cabins in this area that she easily could have stumbled across and hidden in. And with her dark magic, no locked door can best her.

In this weather, there’s no way Zelena will be able to track her down today. Not that it matters anyway. Emma has unstoppable powers that she can use to conceal herself from everyone and hide wherever she wants.

The witch runs her finger along the map of the forest that is resting on the end of her table.

“Where did you go, Dark One?”

* * *

 

“Neal’s asleep,” David announces quietly, entering the kitchen from the bedroom. “How’s it going in here?”

“I think I got all the glass,” Snow answers, standing up from the floor and dumping the dustpan into the trash. “Have you checked Emma’s room or the bathroom for more broken bulbs?”

“Not yet. I can go look now.” The prince makes his way upstairs to his daughter’s bedroom. Glass covers the nightstands beside her bed and the top of her desk. He turns and sees that the floor-length mirror has shattered as well, and its remnants cover the floor. He leans over the rail and raises his voice enough for Snow to hear without waking Neal. “The light bulbs all popped and the mirror is destroyed. How does the bathroom look?”

Snow exits the bathroom and shakes her head at her husband.

“The same thing happened down here.” She grabs the dustpan and broom and makes her way back into the bathroom to clean up the mess that Emma made earlier.

David turns back around to check for more broken glass, his attention caught by the bright red cap of a marker peeking out from the pocket of Emma’s hoodie jacket that rests on her bed. Her filthy clothes from earlier were haphazardly strewn across her floral bedding when she changed earlier after he and Snow brought her here from _Granny’s_.

He reaches into the pocket and pulls out a little notepad, remembering it as what Emma uses to observe things around her that she feels are worth remembering in writing. She let him read her first few entries before, but he wonders what else she wrote down between then and now. He flips to the first entry he doesn’t recognize.

_Neal – my brother_

A small smile appears on David’s face at her innocent note. He flips the page and continues on.

_David – my dad_

_Time out – be quiet for 20 minutes_

_I am a villain_

David feels his stomach turn, and he gulps audibly at the words. With shaky fingers, he turns to the next page.

_Killian loves me_

_I love Killian_

Once again, Emma’s words give David some joy, although he only dreads what else he might read. If she accepted herself as a villain, the rest of the notebook may only say bad things from here on out.

_Excalibur is power_

_I hear voices_

_Don’t trust them_

David closes his eyes and inhales briefly before continuing.

_Nimue_

His heart pounds in his chest. There’s that name again. Merlin’s message from the crimson crown told them about Nimue and said that she is the only person capable of helping them free Emma of the Darkness. How does Emma know Nimue?

_Nobody trusts me_

_Nimue wants me to hurt them_

_I can control myself_

_I need Excalibur_

David feels a sinking feeling in his gut. She must have had a mental battle with herself during this past week. He turns the page once more, only to be met with a blank paper.

“No,” the prince mumbles to himself. “That can’t be it.” He flips through the pages, searching for something else she must have written. On the second to last page, he is met with Emma’s neat handwriting once more in the form of a list.

_Witchbane_

_Nettle root_

_Fairy dust_

_A lock of the Dark One’s hair_

_Blood of the one you love most_

_Tears of a newborn child_

_Blood of two who share true love_

_Swan feathers_

_1 Middlemist flower_

_A heart_

David frowns at the list in confusion, not sure what to make of it. He pulls the page out of the notebook and shoves it into his pocket, deciding to ask Regina about it the next time he sees her. It looks to him like a list of ingredients for a spell or curse. He may not be well-versed in the world of magic, but he knows that it can’t be a Dark Curse because it’s missing one key ingredient. The heart of the one you love most.

“David, I’m done in the bathroom,” Snow informs him from the base of the metal staircase, startling him from his thoughts. He looks around the room, having forgotten that he was meant to be cleaning up. “Do you need the dustpan?”

He closes the notebook and puts it back into Emma’s hoodie jacket.

“Yeah,” he answers his wife. Snow walks up the staircase and enters the room, handing him the dustpan and broom. She looks up at the clock above Emma’s bed and frowns.

“Looks like she broke the clock too.”

David looks up to see a huge crack down the center of the clock, the hands hanging immobile at the ten and the three. He glances down at his wristwatch.

“It’s 12:24.”

Snow nods her head in appreciation and looks outside the window, glad something made of glass stayed intact in the loft.

“I’ll go get lunch started,” she says, giving her husband a quick kiss on the lips as she leaves Emma’s room and goes back downstairs.

David glances at the rain pounding against the glass and sighs heavily. His fingers tighten around the handle of the dustpan and he kneels on the floor to clean up the shattered glass from Emma’s outburst this morning. He hopes that wherever Emma is, she’s safe and warm.


	13. Chapter 13

A loud booming sound startles Emma from above her. She pulls her knees closer to her chest and buries her face in them, letting out a shaky breath as harsh coldness shoots through her body. It probably doesn’t help that she’s leaning against the cold rock wall of the dark cave. When she willed herself away from her parents’ loft, she wanted to go somewhere that she hoped nobody would expect her to be.

She knows Killian would look for her at her house and on his ship. Her parents would likely search for her around town or at  _Granny’s_. That woman she met earlier today, Zelena, may still be searching for her near the farmhouse she escaped from. She doubts Regina is looking for her, though Henry might be.

He’s a good kid.

Emma feels a surge of pride thinking of her son. He appears to be a genuinely good person. Something she’s not.

Her eyebrows knit together in confusion. If she’s Henry’s mother, and she raised him, then why is he so different from her? Her parents made it very clear that she’s a villain and that they’re heroes. So why is  _she_  the odd one out?

“Maybe I was just born evil,” Emma whispers to herself as she shuts her eyes.

It makes sense. Her parents are nothing but good and pure. Henry turned out just as amazing as them. She can only assume his father, who she still hasn’t met since losing her memories, raised Henry. That must be why they’re not together. Maybe they had a baby and he refused to let her turn their son into a monster like her. He’s probably a hero like everyone else.

Everyone but her.

When she had her memories, did she mistreat her family and friends? Ever since Killian took her memories, her family has been nothing but kind and loving toward her. But did they treat her like that before? Maybe they just accepted her for who she was, Darkness and all. Or maybe Killian did this to her with the sole purpose of making her _better_.

A shudder passes through her at the thought of this all being an elaborate façade, a front put up by those around her to ensure she stays on their side when they eventually return her memories to her. Or maybe they never  _will_  return her memories. They’ve all clearly been omitting information from her. But the less they tell her, the worse it makes her look as a person. They all think they’re doing the right thing by withholding the truth, but it couldn’t be worse for her psyche. She’s been gawked at, talked about when they thought she couldn’t hear, observed suspiciously from afar, reassured that she’s not bad  _anymore_.

Her parents are probably ecstatic that her memories were stripped away from her. They’ve been given a second chance to make her like them, and it makes Emma feel sick to her stomach. If it didn’t work the first time, being evil must be in her nature.

She hears the creaking of the floorboards above her, followed by the muffled shouts of a masculine voice that she can’t quite understand.

_Killian._

The Dark One curls her body in on itself more, hoping to block out everything that isn’t in her own mind. Speaking of which, it appears Nimue didn’t follow her here. She smiles softly in relief to finally be away from that demon. She’s just about had enough of people manipulating her, even if it is for the best.

The sound of an explosion appears from nowhere, and Emma lets of a frightened squeak. She has no idea what those loud booms are or when the next one is coming. They started when she came here from her parents’ home, and they’ve been going on for nearly an hour now, getting increasingly louder each time she hears another one. It’s like the world is screaming at her, but she doesn’t know why.

The floor upstairs continues creaking, then stops suddenly. She can feel his presence directly above her. She wishes she and Killian were on better terms. She wants more than anything to run upstairs and throw her arms around him in the tightest hug she can give.

But he lied to her. He intentionally kept her from the truth for his own selfish reasons. And then he took such little care of her dreamcatcher that Regina got her grabby claws on it. She can’t just forgive that like it’s no big deal.

The door upstairs slams, followed almost immediately by another ear-splitting boom from above. More muffled voices join the first one and Emma realizes that her family must also be searching for her here.

She waves her hand in front of her, effectively closing the huge black gate that separates her from the staircase to the rest of her house. With the new barrier between the people upstairs and her, Emma crawls along the side of the wall into a deeper part of the cave. She finds that it narrows into a tunnel and wonders to herself how far back it goes, but decides against venturing further into it. With a quiet sigh, she makes her way several feet into the darkness and rests her head against the wall again.

Her green eyes close as the voices upstairs get louder.

_Click_

The noise from the staircase startles her. She looks up at the dimly lit cave beyond the shadows that she’s hiding in. Footsteps trail down the curved stairs, nearing her with every soft tap of boots against stone.

“Emma, are you down here?” Killian’s accented voice reaches her ears. She looks up from her folded arms and watches him from her nook. He looks around the visible part of the cave before focusing on the darkness beyond the closed gate. “Everyone is looking for you.”

“Did you find her?” David’s voice travels down from the top of the staircase.

Killian’s eyes land on her.

Her body stiffens and she remains as still as she can manage, hoping he doesn’t hear even the slightest shift from her. She knows he can’t see her, but his face softens as if he can. She feels dread settle in her stomach at his piercing gaze. Hot tears sting her eyes.

“Emma,” he says quietly, taking a step forward. “I know you’re there.”

She shakes her head and squeezes her eyes shut, allowing the bitter tears to fall down her cheeks. She can’t bring herself to talk to him, not now. He has no proof that she’s actually here. He just thinks she is, and she refuses to prove his theory correct. Again, he moves closer to the gate.

“Please,” he whispers. “Come back upstairs with me. Your family is worried about you.” He takes a deep breath and grasps one of the bars with his hand. “ _I’m_  worried about you.”

Emma bites back a sob and buries her face into the crevice between her knees again. She feels like a child crying alone in a corner. This is very reminiscent of the time out that David gave her, except now she’s punishing herself.

Another boom resonates from over them.

If she lets Killian know she’s here, he’ll drag her upstairs, and then her family will reprimand her for her behavior earlier. But she’s already torn herself up inside for what she did. She put her parents in danger. She put Regina in danger. She put  _Neal_  in danger.

She nearly killed a  _baby_  with broken glass because she can’t control her anger. A new wave of liquid sadness pours from her eyes and drips onto her jeans.

“Hook?” David calls out, not having gotten an answer a minute ago. He appears from the top of the stairs. “Snow’s in the truck. She thinks we should check Merlin’s mansion.” He looks around the cave, noticing the pirate staring at the shadows beyond the gate, his hand wrapped around a black metal bar. “Are you coming?”

Killian nods his head and turns toward his friend.

“You go on ahead, mate,” he answers. “I’ll catch up with you. I think I just need a moment.”

David accepts his response and makes his way back up the stone staircase. Killian turns back toward the darkness and speaks again.

“I’m sorry.” He lowers his eyes to the floor and draws in a shaky breath. “I never should have done this to you. All of this is my fault.”

Emma leans forward on her knees and places her weight on her hands. She’s no doubt given herself away at this point, with her unsteady breathing and shifting about.

“I took your memories because I was mad at you. But I never meant for any of this to happen. Now Zelena is after you, Regina doesn’t want to return your memories, and your parents seem to think they have a second chance to keep you away from the Darkness.” He runs his fingers through his hair and turns around, sliding against the gate to the floor as he releases a frustrated sigh. “Nobody seems to care how this is all affecting you. It’s all become such a disaster.”

His back is to Emma now, and she crawls forward a couple of feet, still being sure to keep herself shrouded in the shadows. She wipes the tears from her eyes, but they’re replaced with fresh ones instantly.

“And I tried to stop it. I  _tried_  to get back to how it was before.”

She can hear the sadness in his voice, the unsteadiness of his words. She understands why he turned around, why she can’t see his face.

He’s crying.

“Bloody hell, Emma,” he goes on. “I’d rather have you angry at me than not knowing who I am to you. Or who you are to me.” He tilts his head back against the bars, his silky hair resting against the cold metal. “I just want you to remember. Even if you hate me forever. I just want you back.”

Emma sniffles and moves closer to him, coming out of the darkness and sitting directly behind him. The only barrier between them now is the gate, not distance or lack of visibility.

“I miss you.”

His voice breaks her heart, and she reaches through the bars to gently wrap her arms around his waist. She crosses her legs and nudges her head against his shoulder, her cheeks pressing against the bars framing her face.

He melts back into her embrace, turning his head to look at her from underneath his eyelashes.

“I’m sorry,” Emma whispers into his jacket.

He wraps his hand around hers delicately and closes his eyes at the feeling of her warm skin against his, relishing in being there against him.

“No,  _I’m_  sorry,” he responds, turning around to face her fully. “I did this to you.”

Emma breathes deeply before looking into his watery eyes with her own. A pained smile rests on her face as another booming sound explodes above them.

“I forgive you,” she says as genuinely as she is able to.

“Emma…”

She can hear the disappointment in his voice. He’s going to tell her that she can’t forgive him for something she doesn’t remember. She puts a finger up to his soft lips to stop those words from coming out.

“Please,” she pleads, her eyes searching his. “Just let me forgive you.” She tilts her face forward and rests her forehead against his, the chilly bars biting into her skin again. But she doesn’t mind. His presence calms her and silences the voices, she’s noticed.

After a minute, she pulls away and stands to open the gate, to break down the wall between them. It takes only a moment for her to figure out how the latch works, and she’s back in his arms in almost no time at all. He runs his hand over her back and she slides her fingers through his silky hair. She closes her eyes and breathes in his scent, smiling at the aroma that is distinctly  _him_.

* * *

 

“Henry,” Regina calls from the hallway, knocking lightly on her son’s bedroom door. “Can I talk to you for a moment?”

The door swings open and the boy in question motions for his mother to enter. He looks at her curiously.

“Is everything okay?” Henry asks, sitting down on his bed and setting the storybook on his pillow.

“Yes, everything is fine.” Regina sits beside him and smiles. “I was just wondering if I could borrow your book for a little while.”

Henry looks at her skeptically before reaching for his book and handing it to her.

“Why do you need it?”

The queen opens to the first page with an illustration and studies it for a few seconds. She turns back to her son and answers his question.

“There might be clues in here that can help us figure out how to use Excalibur. I wanted to have a look at it more closely. I promise I’ll give it back.”

“I hope you find a way to help Mom.”

Regina closes the cover and holds it tightly to her chest. She looks at her son, but her eyes look far away and lost in thought.

“I hope so too.”

* * *

 

Regina focuses intently on Excalibur as it fades away to nothing in her hand. She looks down at the open page in Henry’s storybook and sees the sword reappear in the background of an illustrated picture. It blends in perfectly, and if she didn’t know it wasn’t there before, she would have no idea magic put it there. Her eyes light up in astonishment.

“It worked,” she whispers to herself.

The queen flips to another random page with a picture. She reaches for the dreamcatcher with Emma’s memories and tilts a bottle half-filled with a deep red potion in the air, only letting three drops fall onto it.

The dreamcatcher lights up for a second before fading out of existence the same way Excalibur did. She looks down at the book to see it materialize against the wall of a rickety-looking house from the Enchanted Forest in the illustration. A wide smile spreads across her face.

Now that her spell has proven effective on concealing the two most important objects in Storybrooke, she can return the book to Henry and no one will be any the wiser. She tucks the book into her purse and walks up the stairs to exit her vault, making sure the protection spell is working like it should before she leaves.

* * *

 

Snow enters the foyer from the dining hall and sighs in frustration. She looks around the room before leaning against the wall.

“I covered the first floor!” she calls out to her husband, hoping he can hear her from upstairs. His head pokes up from behind the railing of the balcony. She looks up at him. “Any luck?”

“None,” he shakes his head solemnly in reply. “I don’t think she’s here.”

She throws her arms up in the air. “This is just like the snow queen all over again!”

“We’ll find her,” the prince assures in a comforting tone.

“Will we, David? When she couldn’t control her powers, she went missing for  _days_.” Her tone rises in volume and emotion. “And now she’s gone again. She could be underground for all we know!”

David stills at her choice of words.

_Underground_

He nearly slaps himself on the forehead. They haven’t checked the mines yet! The place where the dwarfs mine looks almost exactly like her basement. She could have easily sent herself there by mistake, seeing as she wasn’t in the dark cave under her house. Killian can testify to that.

“What if she  _is_  underground?” he asks hopefully, turning to make his way down the large staircase and toward his wife. “Like in the mines.”

Snow’s eyes light up.

“David, you’re a genius!” She meets him in the middle of the foyer and plants a loving kiss to his lips. “Let’s go.”

* * *

 

“What was I like?” Emma asks quietly. Killian looks up at her from their joined hands. “Before you… Before I lost my memories. What was I like as a person?”

Killian leans back against the wall and cocks his head toward his girlfriend, looking into her eyes to show her that his words are only the truth.

“You were loving, but also stubborn as a mule.” He chuckles quietly to himself. “You loved to help people, but you were only content if you were able to do it however you wanted. You were fiercely loyal to the people you loved and would do anything to protect them.” He pauses for a moment. “You were the best mother in all the realms and took great pride in Henry. You’d take care of him until your last breath, and you were the most courageous hero I’ve ever met in my life.”

Emma leans back in shock.

“I was a hero?” she asks, feeling relief wash over her body.

“Aye, love. The strongest one that’s ever lived. I knew when I met you that nothing would ever be able to sway you from the side of good.”

“I thought I was a villain,” she whispers, her lashes brimming with unshed tears. “I thought that I was a horrible, evil, despicable person.”

Killian wraps his arms around her and pulls her close. He inhales the scent of her long white hair as his hand runs up and down her spine comfortingly. She relaxes into his embrace and brings her arms up around his neck, resting her head in the crook of his neck.

“Far from it, actually,” he replies. “But I used to be a villain. You’re the reason I turned away from the Darkness.”

He’s leaving something out, Emma knows it. She can tell he’s intentionally skipping over something that she should probably know. She feels like she should press him for more information, but she fears this moment will end and they’ll have to go back upstairs and into the real world. She isn’t ready for that yet. Instead, she nuzzles her face against his throat and eases her body closer to his so she’s practically sitting in his lap. Her fingers play with the ends of his dark hair, twisting the locks around in her grasp.

“Why does everyone fear me?”

He stiffens and pulls his head away from hers, releasing her from his embrace. She pouts childishly and leans back to rest her weight on her palms.

“It’s a long story,” he begins. “But to sum it up, you sacrificed yourself to the Darkness to save everyone and eventually succumbed to it.” He winces at his own choice of words.

“So much for being ‘the strongest hero that’s ever lived,’” Emma mumbles to herself. “I couldn’t even hold my own against the Darkness.”

“That’s not what I meant,” he tries to rectify his mistake, but she’s already on her feet.

“So I  _am_  a villain! I knew it!” She paces back and forth across the cave, running her fingers through her hair. “Normal people don’t get scared when a  _hero_  walks into the room. But everywhere I went this morning, I could see the fear in their eyes.” She turns toward Killian and looks into his eyes. “They’re all afraid of me. Even if they weren’t before, they certainly are now. After the stunt I pulled this morning…”

Killian stands up to join her.

“Emma, your family isn’t afraid of you,” he says in a soothing voice. “They’re afraid of the Darkness.”

“And the difference is?”

He straightens his back and walks up to her, searching her face seriously.

“The Darkness is  _in_  you. That doesn’t mean it  _is_  you.”

Emma closes her eyes and backs up until the backs of her legs hit a hard boulder. She sits down on it and looks down at her pale hands, taking note of the tiny sparkles that sparsely cover them.

“It controls me,” she says. “The Darkness. It’s taking over my mind, intruding on my thoughts. I’ve tried to push it out, but it only goes away when I’m with you.” She looks up and gives Killian a sad smile. “And even then, Nimue has come to me before when you’re around.”

Killian is about to speak when Emma hears a sickeningly sweet voice speak up from behind her, the accent making it all too easy to identify.

“Did someone say my name?”


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon A Time or any of its characters. I make absolutely no money from this. All I receive is the satisfaction of knowing that people enjoy my fic.

_"Did someone say my name?"_

Emma spins around and backs up into Killian's chest, her eyes wide with shock.

"Not again," she whines under her breath before craning her neck back to look up into Killian's face. "You see her right?"

Killian narrows his eyes and looks around the cave, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. He knows Nimue must be here again, making this the second time she's appeared to Emma and not him while they're in the same place together.

"Not this time, dear," Nimue answers. "I'm just here for you."

"No," Emma whispers.

A smirk settles on the scaly woman's face, giving Emma a sinking feeling in her gut.

"You cannot trust him, Emma." She takes a step closer. "As soon as he gets his hands on Excalibur, he will use it against you." Her eyes light up in delight. "And you know it, don't you?"

Emma shuts her eyes and puts her hands over her ears. She shakes her head and mumbles incoherently to herself as she slides down to the floor. Her knees curl up to her chest like they had when she sat against the cold cave wall earlier. Despite her blocking out the noise, she can still hear Nimue's sickening voice clear as day.

"Once you find Excalibur, he will run you through and take your powers!" Her voice is rising in volume, making Emma wrap her arms around her head tightly to cover her ears more efficiently. "You mustn't let him! You _must_  kill him!"

_"Stop!"_  Emma shouts, feeling hot tears run down her cheeks as the word escapes her mouth.

Another muffled boom from above is the only noise she hears through her big sleeves. A warm hand rests on her back and she jerks away from the touch. It takes her a moment to realize that the hand was just Killian trying to comfort her. She opens her eyes and looks around the basement, slowly dropping her arms to her sides and bringing her legs down from her chest.

Nimue is gone.

Her gaze travels down to her trembling hands.

"Emma?" Killian asks quietly, clearly concerned for her. "Are you—"

"She wants me to hurt you," Emma interrupts. She looks back to his unreadable face. "Nimue."

Killian's eyes soften, and he inches forward until they're just a couple of feet from each other.

"Swan…"

"She said you're going to get Excalibur and hurt me with it." she stares vacantly at the ground.

"Don't listen to her," the pirate pleads, reaching out to hold Emma's hand with his own.

"I can't help it," she whispers, bringing her watery eyes to meet his dry ones. "Every time she talks to me, I can't help but do what she wants."

"But that doesn't mean—"

"I almost killed my family today."

Killian halts and pulls away from her, separating their hands. Fresh tears drip from Emma's eyes, and she puts her long sleeves to her face.

"I didn't mean to," she mumbles against the clothing.

"It's not your fault," he consoles. "She's trying to get inside your head."

Emma looks down at the gravelly floor and inhales deeply. She wants to tell Killian that  _it's working_  and that Nimue  _is_  getting inside her head. But she knows how he'll react. He will think she's weak and can't protect herself.

"Can we just drop it?" Emma asks, grabbing his hand again and leading them toward the stone staircase. "I want to go upstairs."

Killian sighs and nods his head as he trails along behind his girlfriend. He really hopes Regina comes to her senses and returns Emma's memories to their rightful place before something irreversible happens. He watches Emma push the door to the entryway open and frown at the darkness that greets them. She lets go of his hand and feels along the wall for the light switch. Once she finds it, she flicks it up, but the lights in the house stay off. She sucks her lower lip into her mouth and chews lightly on it.

"I thought this is how it worked," she says disappointedly.

"There must have been a power outage," Killian responds, recycling the words Emma once used to explain to him how the weather can affect the power in the house. "Sometimes during big storms, the lightning makes the lights in the house go out."

Emma tilts her head to the side and looks up at Killian with innocent eyes, something he hasn't seen on her in a while.

"Lightning?"

As if on cue, white light flashes along the floorboards and walls, startling the woman. A second later, a loud noise erupts from all around them. Emma jumps forward and wraps her arms around Killian. She buries her face in his leather jacket and lets out a muffled scream against his chest. Her hold on him is tight, and he can't move his arms to console her.

"It's just thunder, it can't hurt you," Killian reassures quietly. He closes his eyes and leans his head on hers. "Nothing can hurt you. I promise."

They stand there for a few minutes in silence. Emma continues to cling to him to breathe in his scent and memorize the feeling of him in her arms. Her fears of the lightning melted away as soon as she heard his soothing voice speaking to her. She reaches her arms up to play with the short hair at the base of his skull, shifting in his arms so he can hold onto her as well. She breathes out a contented sigh and whispers into his ear.

"You always make it better." A small smile graces her face. "When I touch you, it's like every bad thing in the world disappears."

Killian's eyes sting with unshed tears. He pulls her in deeper to give her a true hug. They've cuddled so much today, but he knows he'll never get sick of it. Especially since he knows she will resent him as soon as she regains her memories. She will be disgusted with him and never want to see him again. If he's lucky, maybe she'll seek him out to tell him how much she hates him. At least then he will be able to see her as herself one last time.

But there's a fat chance of that ever happening.

If Regina gets her way, Emma won't remember who she truly is until they destroy the Darkness once and for all. But nobody has taken into consideration that Emma is the only person who has spoken to Merlin enough to know of a way to do that without killing anyone. At least, he hopes there is a way to destroy the Darkness without any more bloodshed.

_What's wrong with spilling a little blood?_

Killian suppresses the voice in his head that is not his own, knowing that it is just his inner demon trying to appeal to the Darkness in him. He stopped speaking back to them after ruining Emma's life. Listening to the voices only got him into worse situations than before.

Just like when he took Emma's memories.

The pirate looks down to the woman in his arms as he studies her regal features and relaxed expression. He runs his hands up and down her back, feeling her body melt into his.

"Emma?" he whispers.

"Shh," she responds. "Let's just stay like this."

He nods his head in understanding. She has been through quite the ordeal today, and she just needs someone to hold her. He is happy to take on that mantle to ensure her comfort, even if it means standing silently in her entryway for hours.

"Aye, love," he says, his voice breaking on the words. "As you wish."

* * *

 

The door slams behind David as he enters the loft behind his wife.

"We searched  _everywhere_! Where could she be?"

Snow sits down on the couch and runs her fingers through her hair. David walks into the kitchen and fills two mugs with water before returning to Snow in the living room.

"I just don't know," Snow whispers sadly. "I wish we could help her, but there's nothing we can do."

"I bet she would stop running away if she had her memories," David mumbles.

The queen shakes her head and lifts her cup to her lips.

"You heard Regina. She said it's safer for everyone if we destroy the Darkness  _before_  returning Emma's memories to her." She takes a sip of her water before setting the mug back down on the coffee table. "But I hate waiting. I just want my daughter back."

"Me too," the prince agrees. "I'm scared Emma will hate us all so much more when she remembers us."

Tears burn Snow's eyes and fall down her cheeks. She grabs her husband's chin and turns his head toward her.

"Don't talk like that. We will destroy the Darkness, and Regina will return Emma's memories." She pauses and breathes in deeply. "And she will love us again."

* * *

 

It has been raining nonstop for nearly a week since Emma vanished into thin air. Henry looks up at the stormy sky and sighs, his breath visible in the air before him. He wraps his scarf more securely around his neck to protect it from the biting chill of the outdoors. The back door of his house shuts behind him as he sets out along the hedges and past the barrier of the backyard. He figured out a shortcut to Emma's house a few days prior to her memory loss, one that is discreet and hidden from prying eyes. Not even Regina knows about it.

The young teenager adjusts his backpack on his shoulder and continues down the imaginary trail until he reaches the oak trees that stand tall behind his mother's house. He opens the gate and walks up the porch to the back door.

Henry looks over his shoulder to make sure his storybook is tucked safely into his backpack. He shakes the rain off of his umbrella and closes it, setting it down against the doorframe to dry.

His fingers fish his pocket for the key he swiped the last time he was here. He would feel bad about it, but it's not like his mom had any idea what it unlocked or that it even belonged to her. He turns the key in the lock until he hears a click, then opens the door and steps inside.

"Mom?" Henry calls out, kicking off his muddy shoes on the doormat and shoving the key back into his pocket. "Are you here?"

He hears the creaking of a floorboard upstairs, signaling to him where he should search next. The teen drops his backpack on the dining table before heading up the staircase. Before he can even call out for his mother again, a door at the end of the hallway swings open and Emma steps out. She makes eye contact with him and blinks a few times in confusion.

"Henry?" she asks. Her voice sounds devoid of happiness and her eyes hold a dull tiredness that gives Henry an uncomfortable feeling in his stomach. "What are you doing here?"

The boy in question shrugs and turns back toward the staircase, indicating that Emma should follow him.

"I wanted to come over and say 'hi,'" he replies, not elaborating until they reach the entryway of her home. "I brought my storybook. I thought you'd want to read it with me."

Despite the void expression on her face, Emma's eyes twinkle with curiosity. She nods her head and folds her fingers together.

"I'd love to, Henry." She follows her son to the kitchen and they sit down at the table together. "I didn't think you would want to see me. After what I did last week…"

Henry's face softens sadly at her words, and he reaches out to rest his hand on her shoulder comfortingly.

"Nobody is mad at you for that. I promise."

Emma sighs and looks down at her lap like a child getting punished by their parents.

"Regina is," she retorts.

Henry has to agree internally. She's right, Regina is still angry at Emma for her behavior a few days ago. She hasn't been able to stop talking about putting the cuff back on Emma and locking her up as soon as they find her. He's glad she doesn't know Emma just locked herself in her house and stayed silent.

Rather than letting her know that her assumption is correct, Henry just pulls the storybook out of his backpack and slides it over to Emma.

"Wow, that's a big book," the Dark One remarks, opening to the first page. "And the words are small."

"It doesn't take that long to read," Henry assures. "Really."

After flipping a few more pages in, Emma smiles brightly and pushed the book back to her son.

"They look just like my parents!"

Sure enough, on the page is a picture of Snow and David grinning at each other, hopeful love in their eyes.

"They are your parents. This story is about the past."

A look of awe appears on Emma's face, and she looks back down at the book, turning several more pages until she reaches the picture of her and Killian dancing at the ball. She traces her finger over her illustrated self.

"This is me…" Her brows crinkle in a frown. "Why does my hair look like that?"

Henry looks down at the picture and sees that her hair is blonde instead of the icy white that it is now.

"I think it changed in Camelot," he answers to the best of his abilities.

His mom examines a lock of her hair between her fingers before looking back up at him with her lips pulled down in discontent.

"Why?"

Henry pauses and purses his lips, not sure what to say in response to her question. He never stopped to think about why and how her hair changed color. He assumes it's because of her embracing the Darkness, but Rumpelstiltskin's hair never changed like Emma's did. Maybe there's more at play than just her embracing the Darkness, but he would have no way of knowing.

"I don't really know," he says, knowing she will be displeased with the answer.

True to his thoughts, Emma huffs and leans back against her chair, grimacing at the lack of information.

"But this isn't the only page you're on!" Henry changes the subject to try to bring Emma back to the reason he came over. He turns to the back of the book where it shows Emma as a baby being safely held in her father's arms. "See, here you are."

Emma turns her attention back to the book in front of her and lets a small smile settle on her face. She reaches out and picks up the book, only to feel a very familiar sense of unbridled power course through her body. In an instant, she drops it back down onto the table and gasps.

"Mom? What's wrong?"

The Dark One looks down at her hands to see if they've changed, but they look the same as they did before. Her eyes are blown wide and her mouth is agape.

She has only experienced that feeling one other time. It is identical to the raw power she felt when she held Excalibur without the cuff on her wrist. But how is it that Henry's book can contain such power as well? Surely there is no way for anything else in the world to give her that sense. It  _must_  be Excalibur.

"Sorry," Emma whispers to Henry. "I just felt something weird for a second."

Henry studies her face for a moment.

"Maybe your mind is trying to remember," he supplies, hoping to be right.

"Yeah, maybe…" Emma trails off, staring at the book. She muses to herself that Excalibur must be tied to the book somehow. Maybe they are linked by magic. "Henry, do you mind if I borrow this for a little while?"

"Sure, go for it." He looks up at the clock in the kitchen and stands up from his seat, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. "I should probably get home before someone realizes I'm gone."

Emma stands to give him a tight hug.

"Please let my parents know I'm really sorry," she whispers.

"They already know how sorry you are. You should go see them." Her son hugs her back just as fiercely.

She gives him a weak smile and follows him to the back door to say goodbye. After watching him leave, the Dark One closes and locks the door to ensure no one else will enter the house without her wanting them to. She's thankful her parents don't have a key to her house or they would be able to find her here without a problem. Killian, on the other hand, has no issue poofing into her house whenever he pleases. Although she desperately wants to be alone right now.

She focuses all of her attention and energy on shielding her home from trespassers, including Henry and Killian. The warmth of her magic flows from her hands and covers the entire house, sealing the doors with a protection spell. She's found in the last few days that her magic has become increasingly easier to control when she needs it.

When she's finally alone and certain nobody will interrupt her, Emma returns to the dining table and opens to the first page. She doesn't know how, but Excalibur must be prominently tied to this book for her to be able to feel its power even when it isn't physically in her hands. There has to be some sort of secret within the book that will lead her to the great sword.

* * *

 

Two hours later, Emma is no closer to finding Excalibur than she was before. The sun is beginning to set behind the clouds outside, and she briefly considers turning on the kitchen light to see the pages better. But she knows that if she turns any of the lights on, anyone who walks by outside will know that she is home. So instead she lights and small flame in her hand to be able to focus on the words.

She briefly glances at the picture of an armory, ignoring the contents since the words matter more than the illustrations. Despite the interesting story, there is no information on Excalibur or Camelot anywhere in the book so far.

A few pages later, Emma feels boredom settling into her mind. The story has changed from a king's impressive collection of armors and weapons to a narrative about a lonely woodcarver living in an old shack in the middle of nowhere.

The young woman rests her cheek on her palm and looks down at the drawing of the woodcarver's "house," not bothering to take note of its crooked door with stripping paint. But something catches her attention, and she sits up straight. There, on the wall beside the door, is a very familiar little object.

A dreamcatcher.

Upon closer inspection, she realizes that it isn't just  _any_  dreamcatcher. It's  _her_  dreamcatcher. It calls out to her as though she can just reach into the picture and grab it.

_What if I can?_

Emma gulps audibly and reaches down to press her fingers against the paper. She mostly expects her skin to make contact with the page and shoot down her idea. But when her hand slips into the illustration without hassle, her breath begins to come out in shaky pants. Her warm fingers close around the cold rim of the dreamcatcher, and she tugs lightly. Both come out of the book and Emma can't help but gape at it resting in her grasp.

"My dreamcatcher…" she whispers in astonishment. "My memories…"

Without a second thought, she holds up the dreamcatcher to be level with her gaze and concentrates with all of her power on  _remembering._

"Please," she begs quietly.

She sees the center of it begin to glow a golden hue, and she squeezes her eyes shut as tears of joy run down her face. Who she was doesn't bother her, whether she was evil or good. She doesn't care if she is out to seek revenge or if she just wants to be happy and live her life. All that matters now is that Emma is finally going to remember everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Yes! She is finally going to remember! And this fic is quite possibly nearing the end. The idea I originally had is getting close to coming to fruition. However, there are two possible endings I have for this story, and I haven't quite decided on which one I want yet. One of them ends just like the episode "Swan Song" (so everything after this would go on as it did in the show, and this fic would fit right in only where 5A is). The other ending is something that would definitely warrant a sequel, but that's all I'll say about that. I guess let me know if you would be interested in reading a sequel for this fic, because I would be good to write one if it's something people want. As always, thank you so much for reading, please let me know what you think!  
> ~IvoryFaye


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